Voodoo Curse
by Nature9000
Summary: Happily married and with two children of their own, Beck and Jade lose it all when her vengeful sister attempts a mystical curse that goes wrong. Pushed forward in time, their bodies have returned to their teenage years, with their minds slowly reverting back. Time is running out, and they risk losing even their identities. Can they undo the broken curse before it's too late?
1. Once Upon a December

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: I'm going to say little here in the authornote and just jump in to let you see what's going on. It does involve magic (not wiccan though, think Charmed but this has nothing to do with Charmed). Trust me and enjoy, this is for the Halloween of this year (though uploaded after).

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Chapter 1 (Once Upon a December)

A music box played in the distance as a small, two year old child sat in her high chair. She brandished her hands in the air with laughter as she watched the dancing care bears on the television before her.

Beside her was a stunning Christmas tree lit up with colorful orbs and shimmering silver garland. Below the tree was a bed of snow made up of cotton, and in the snow was a toy horse attached to the back of a moving train.

The child looked at a tall, dark haired woman nearby, grinning as the woman sung along with the lullaby of the music box. "Honey?" A strange man entered the room, and the toddler's eyes grew large. The man had on a red suit and a long, white wig. "This thing feels like it's been bathed in lice." The man scratched the white hair and groaned.

"So take it off, Beck." The woman pulled the wig from the man's head and the child laughed when she recognized her father. She reached her hands up, calling for her mother. Beck's eyes twinkled as he looked at his daughter.

The woman lifted the child from the chair and held her against her chest. "How are you doing, sweetie?" The mother whispered in a hushed tone. The child grabbed the wig with her hand, laughing as she eyed it with great fascination, and as though it were the only thing of importance in her eyes.

Beck approached his wife with a deep laugh. "Looks like she wanted the wig, Jade." Jade smiled brightly and her heart skipped as she leaned up to kiss her husband's cheek. He kissed her back and slid an arm around her waist. "By the way, the baby's diaper has been changed and she's asleep in her crib."

Jade let out an exhausted breath and sat on the couch, holding her eldest child close to her. "Good. I need everything to be clean before my sister shows up. If the baby's asleep, that's less to worry about."

Beck sat beside her and slid an arm around her shoulders. "You've been so busy lately, you're due for a rest." The toddler curled into a ball and clutched her mother's shirt tight between her fingers. Jade looked down at the child, smiling as the tiny heartbeats struck her chest like the pitter patter of tiny feet running across her chest.

"Maybe you're right." She didn't want to take a break, she wanted everything perfect. Her sister was angry with her and she wanted to make things right, if at all possible. "It's just…" Jade leaned into Beck, setting her head onto his right shoulder. "She can get pretty intense when she gets angry."

Her elder sister was a bit of an eccentric and involved in things that Jade didn't think were positive for the girl, but she didn't want to speak up for fear of insulting her.

Holland was just two years older than Jade, at thirty-two years of age, and finally had a boyfriend that wasn't scared off by her obsession with witchcraft and dark arts.

The doorbell rang, jolting Jade's head upright. "She's here," Jade uttered in a hushed tone. Chills ran down her spine and a peculiar sensation swept through her body. Something felt off, but she wasn't sure what. "She's early."

"Alright, let me put our daughter back in the chair then." Beck swept the child up into his arms and carried her back to the high chair. "Come on, you get to finish your show while mommy and aunt Holland talk…"

Jade rose up slowly and made her way towards the door, looking over her shoulder to see her child twisting around to peer at her from the seat. Jade raised her hands and pulled her hair back over her shoulders with a huff of air.

"Okay." She extended a hand towards her crystal doorknob, hovering it over for several seconds before grabbing and turning it. A feigned smile spread over her face and she pulled the door open, gasping aloud and in awe.

A woman not much taller than Jade stood before her, her face was long and her eyes were covered by sandy brown hair. Beside her was a tall man with dark, curly hair and a deep gaze.

"Holly! How are you?" Holly walked in as though floating on air, looking at her with a plain smile. Her boyfriend, David, followed her in without raising his eyes from the Mcdonald cups placed in a brown tray in his hands.

"I'm okay, Jade. Been better." Holly was curt and her voice was like an arrow poised to pierce the tension in the air. Jade shut the door behind the couple and turned to her sister with a frown. "We brought you and Beck some hot chocolate from McDonalds."

"Oh." Jade accepted one of the two cups graciously and looked up as Beck lifted the other. "That's generous of you." She raised the cup to her lips, hesitating for only a second when a peculiar smell hit her nostrils. Thinking little of it, she tilted her head back and let the hot liquid splash out onto her tongue.

She followed Beck to the couch, sitting with him as he sipped on his drink. A serene look came over Holly's face as she approached, her lips peeled back and her teeth flashed in the smile. "Consider it a peace offering, Jade…"

"Sure." Jade scrunched her face and moved her hand to her stomach, wincing as an odd sensation pulsed from within. "Look Holly, I apologize for before. If I did anything-"

Holly raised her hand to cut her off. "I told you in confidence and you blabbed to your husband. Did you think it wouldn't come around to me? That I wouldn't find out?" Jade bowed her head and Beck looked over with a guilty expression.

Under stress at work, Beck ended up telling somebody what Jade told him. It was an honest and simple mistake, but Holly had grown furious over it.

"I shouldn't be surprised, really." Holly paced to the right and narrowed her eyes. Jade's chest began to burn, and Beck's hand started to tighten around hers. She could feel a heaviness in her eyes and a sharp pain that was slicing through her muscles. "All throughout life you've been the special one of us, overshadowing me at every turn and dissing everything I've ever done."

"I only try to help you, Holly. That witchcraft stuff you're getting involved in? It's not good."

"It's the one thing I'm good at that you're not." Holly spun on her heels and crossed her arms while glaring down her nose at Jade. "And you would take that from me."

Jade raised her hand to her chest and leaned forward. "I'm only trying to help you."

"Well help no more." A jolt of electricity shot through her and the burning sensation in her chest grew intense. In the corner of her eyes she saw Beck flinch and watched with wide eyes as he dropped his cup onto the floor.

The cocoa spilt out on the carpet, but to her surprise, it bore a darker color than typical hot chocolate. To her eyes it looked almost like tar or oil. Her heart flickered and started to dull to a stop as she tried in vain to stand from the couch.

Her entire body was numb and paralyzed, and she had to strain her voice to speak. "W-What did you do? Sis?"

Holly's voice turned venomous as she circled the couch. "I'm done living in your shadow, Jade. You and your husband, living perfect little happy lives with a perfect family and good jobs-while I waste away knowing I'll never have any of it. You're always looking down on me, always acting superior and better than me-and the one thing I find that I'm better than you at-you want to take away from me."

"The stuff you're dealing with isn't normal."

"Like you would know about normal." Holly threw her head back and ripped out a scoffing laugh.

Jade could feel her voice and consciousness fading, but fought against it as she struggled to move. "Your witchcraft nearly killed someone, Holly. You can't say that's normal." Holly growled and threw her hands up.

"There you go again, repeating something I told you in confidence." Holly crossed her arms and glanced over at David. "Well no more. Start the incantation…" Jade gasped out and clenched her teeth together as Holly's burning gaze locked with hers. "Time to go to sleep, little sister. Let's see how you like being forced into the shadows for the rest of your life…"

Her eyes welled up with tears and she tried to force a scream, but her vocal chords felt as though they'd been turned to stone. David began to speak in mumbles, stammering over words he knew nothing about.

Their chanted words circled Jade and Beck like ropes, sending a vicious tremor through their bodies. At some point, she heard Holly shout that David had done something wrong, but it was too late.

Jade leaned her head back and her lips pulled apart to scream, but saliva clouded her throat and mouth. The trembling in her body intensified and she could think only of her little girl watching from the high chair.

"Not in front of my baby," she tried to say. Pulses of pain shot like waves down her arms and legs. "What are you doing to me? Holly?" Her tears felt like fire in her eyes and they ran down her cheeks like razor blades cutting deep into her skin.

"David you idiot," Holly screeched, "You're saying the wrong chant. You're saying the wrong." Jade thought she heard her sister say the number 'fifteen' with a defeated voice, but couldn't figure out what the significance of the number was before she felt a burst within her brain that snapped her of her consciousness.

When Jade awoke, she felt as though someone had run over her with a giant steamroller. She was facedown and lying beside another mass on a hard concrete sidewalk. She moved a trembling hand to the mass and curled it around what felt like a muscular bicep.

Jade raised her head slowly and gasped astonishingly when she saw her husband on his back. "Beck!" His eyelids opened partially and a weakened groan pushed apart his lips.

"Jade?" He looked up at her with silent horror growing in his eyes. "Jade, you look…you look like a teenager." She thought he was still recovering from the shock at first, but to her own horror and dismay, Beck looked just as he did fifteen years ago.

As she contemplated what kind of voodoo her sister had done, fear was gripping at her with lethal tendrils. A trembling gasp flung from her mouth, and tears filled her eyes.

"W-We're young again? Are we dead?" She turned her head and let her gaze fall onto an oddly familiar man standing near them. He wore long brown robes and had a scruffy brown beard that rose up towards the wild tufts of hair circling his ears and balding head.

The man's eyes were enlarged, and in his trembling hand he held a coconut. The familiarity was difficult to place, but her husband had the answer seemingly without missing a beat.

"Erwin?" Beck pushed his upper body up, resting on his elbows while raising an eyebrow at the man. "Erwin Sikowitz, is that you?" A rush of relief came over her and she started to smile. "Erwin it's me, Beckett."

Sikowitz was one of Beck's coworkers at the school where he worked, and he was an old childhood friend, so maybe he would be able to help them figure out what was going on with them.

"It can't be," Sikowitz said with a shaky voice. The man looked down at his coconut for a minute and dropped it, unable to hold it any longer with his violently shaking hand. "How are the two of you here? How are you so young?"

Jade stood slowly, helping her husband to his feet. "I don't know." She dusted her clothes off and let Beck lean against her in order to keep from falling over. "The last thing I remember, my sister was still pissed off about what Beck told you."

Sikowitz scratched his head and began mumbling. "I don't remember what that was." She jerked her head back and Beck exclaimed his surprise as though they were thinking the same thought.

"I just told you like a week ago."

"A week?" Sikowitz furrowed his brow and walked forward. He smacked his lips together and shook his head from side to side. "Jade. Beck. The two of you disappeared fifteen years ago…" Her heart stopped and the shock rushed through her body like a tidal wave, threatening to slam her into the ground. "Furthering that, you both look like you did when you were teenagers. Fifteen years old, I'm guessing…"

It had to be a dream, that was the only explanation she could muster. The magic her sister was involved in, she never believed actually worked; it defied all logical thought. "Fifteen years missing?" She sputtered. "Fifteen years younger? It's impossible. None of this is real. It can't be real."

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Do you have any thoughts? Give a listen to "Secret" by The Pierces, that really sets the mood of the scene between Jade and her sister. Also yes, the beginning scene and the title of the chapter is inspired by the song "Once upon a December". Enjoy the story


	2. Mental Side Effects

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: The second chapter I post close in time so that you can get more of a sense of what is happening. Remember that David messed up in the incantation, he doesn't know nor took seriously the kind of magic Holly worked with. This may have led to their teenage forms, but you're going to start to see a mental side effect as well as their minds and memories may begin reverting as well. How they are on the show is essentially how Beck and Jade here were in their teenage years...

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Chapter 2 (Mental Side Effects)

"What are we going to do?" Jade was trying her best not to lose her composure while following Sikowitz through the halls of Hollywood Arts. The school was relatively new, according to him, and Beck was stunned to see his old friend no longer worked at the other high school.

Like a child he was examining everything they passed by, but Jade was too focused on their current circumstances and couldn't understand the fascination. "I don't honestly know what's going on," Sikowitz replied softly, "But I can get the principal to enroll the two of you here if you need me to…"

A student walked by them and Jade froze in horror. The girl was wearing a white spaghetti strap shirt with her midriff showing, and short jeans that barely ran beyond her butt. More shocking was the flat device that she was holding up to her ear.

She started to point when Sikowitz pushed her hand down. "It's called an Android, a very new type of cell phones."

"Cell phone?" Beck scratched his chin for a second before reaching into his pocket. He removed a long black device with numbers and an antenna. It was large, bulky, and barely fit into his pocket.

Sikowitz scratched his beard and carefully took the phone, staring at it with the fascination one might have with finding an ancient piece of history. "My god, you two really did pop out from the past."

He handed the phone back and crossed his arms. "Those phones haven't been around since '95. When the two of you disappeared." The man's shoulders fell and a sigh rushed from his lips. "God that Christmas was rough on everyone. Just a month short of your daughter's first birthday."

"Our daughters." Beck stepped forward, seemingly more interested now in what was going on. "Where are they? What happened to them?" Beck's eyes filled with concern and his hands grasped the brown scarf around Sikowitz's neck. "If it's been fifteen years-"

"Relax." The man pulled his scarf from Beck's grasp and raised a bushy eyebrow at him. "Last I heard they're with family. Your sister-in-law." Jade felt her heart shooting through her chest and started to pale as Beck turned his head towards her.

"We have to find her," she said under her breath. "We need to find Holly. Figure out what happened-find a way to fix this." She didn't count on it being easy, especially if this was what her sister wanted. Holly might not be willing to undo anything.

"But why are you teenagers again? That I don't understand."

"It was the curse she used." Jade swept her fingers across her chin and carefully paced to the right while dipping her eyes to the ground. "I remember her shouting that David had done something wrong. It might have to do with that." She was almost certain David knew little about the type of magic that Holly had gotten into, and it was likely he had only been playing along and didn't think anything was going to happen. "Something went wrong, we lost fifteen years of our lives because of this…"

Beck fell back against a locker, and the crash echoed into the air. Jade's head jerked up and she rushed to his side, watching as he placed his hand over his stomach. "Beck, are you okay?" He was sweating and breathing heavily.

He looked up to her with half-lidded eyes and mustered a tiny smile. "Just a little nauseous. Nothing to worry about." Her muscles tensed and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her stomach was twisting into knots and she felt nauseous as well, so surely it was only a side effect. Beck slowly stood to his feet, straining himself in the process. "I have to ask, if we're fifteen again physically, do you think it'll happen mentally as well?"

"I hope not." It was something she hadn't thought about, and she truly didn't want to think about it. If they were to truly turn fifteen again, then she couldn't be sure what that meant. "We were too different when we were fifteen." A nervous chuckle left her lips and she heard a bellowing laugh from Sikowitz.

"That would be entertaining to see, if it wasn't so serious," the man chimed. She rolled her head towards him, narrowing her eyes and pulling her lips back into a brisk scowl. "Ah memories. The days of chasing the women around, we were all stunned when Beck decided to finally lock himself down on just one."

Beck's eyes widened and Jade felt a strange urge to strike her husband. "Try not to remind me."

At fifteen years of age, it was difficult to see the future that she and Beck had together. Those days she'd been paranoid and mad with jealousy, and Beck had been a reformed playboy. Every time he so much as looked at a girl, Jade would become enraged and jealous. They fought often because of it, but by some miracle Beck decided to settle down and she sought help for her own problems.

Sensing a pulse of the ancient jealousy, she stopped walking and turned towards Beck. "Beck? What made you think of that just now?" She certainly hadn't entertained the possibility.

"I'm not sure." Beck's brow started to furrow and his eyes darted in the direction of the student that passed them some time ago. "If I'm honest. You know I haven't even thought about another woman since we were in high school, and I've certainly never felt any of those urges I had when I was a teenager, but just a moment ago there was something…and it startled me."

Her heart began to sink and she held onto her breath while raising her hand over her mouth. Sikowitz moved past her, looking into the eyes of his old friend with sincerity. "What do you mean, Beck? What do you mean you 'felt something'."

"It was almost like…" He ran his hand vigorously through his hair and shut his eyes, groaning softly. "You remember how we used to kind of pump ourselves up whenever a girl walked by?" Sikowitz chuckled once and Jade started to frown.

"Yeah, all posing and posturing. I remember those days. Trying to look cool to attract the ladies." Sikowitz placed a hand over his bald head and sighed. "I'm afraid I can't do the hair flip anymore, but I remember."

The man's eyes glazed over and rose towards the ceiling. He snapped his fingers and gasped fondly. "We were wild and free, couldn't be tamed or tied down." Beck ran his hand over his neck while looking to Jade. She folded her arms across her chest and swallowed the rising anger in her throat. "I remember we were all shocked that you were the first to find the old ball and chain, Beckett."

"Yes." Beck dropped his hand and flashed a loving smile at Jade. "But that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me." Her heart skipped a beat and she unfolded her arms, sighing heavily.

"Just don't start acting like that again," she warned, "I'd better not catch you glancing at another woman." The flickering in her heart ceased and she threw her hands up over her mouth, shocked by what had just come out. Beck and Sikowitz stared at her with widening eyes, and a hush fell over them as a dense fog. "Oh god, I haven't worried about that in years…what's happening to me?"

Beck approached her without word and wrapped his arms around her in a loving embrace. "We'll fix this Jade. I promise you." She hugged him back and felt goosebumps forming on her skin like a rash. Her eyes welled up with frightful tears and each breath she took was shaky.

Sikowitz scratched the back of his head, watching the two of them solemnly. "I'll do everything I can to help," he said, "But I don't know how to do that."

His presence could be a benefit, if he was able to keep them grounded or to help them remember who they were. They didn't know what other side effects there might be, and the possibilities were terrifying.

"You two are going to need a place to stay though, I don't have room at my place, but I do know your fathers are both still alive." They pulled apart slowly and Jade turned an uncertain gaze onto the man.

Their dads would be older and possibly wrought with grief if the entire 'fifteen years missing' was accurate. Not to mention, as teenagers again, showing up at their fathers' homes might be a bit rough.

"It's worth a try," Beck replied, "We don't have money, and I assume our bank accounts are no longer open…or employment…" Jade had been a stay-at-home mom while Beck worked at the local high school. There was little chance of him being able to go back to work there.

"Yeah, and the two of you probably don't have any reliable documentation either. So unless the two of you like cuddling up on a messy sofa in my living room, we're going to need to get you to your parents."

Jade rolled her eyes and spoke with a flat, sarcastic tone. "Great. I'm sure my father's going to just love seeing teenage me again." She was a handful at fifteen, there was no denying that. At fifteen years of age, her mother passed away and she started to act out and rebel. Her father, though he loved her, did everything to make things right and to be there for her, but she wound up pushing him away at every turn.

He'd been a stern businessman, so he came across as hard and unloving even when he was. Beck's father was softer and easier to connect with, but it was hard to say which father was going to have an 'easier' time with their fifteen year old child.

Beck tapped his chin and shook his head slowly. "My father's older than hers, we need to handle this carefully." His father had a history of heart problems and was about ten years older than her father. Her father had been born around 1944 while his was born in 1935.

Her stomach rumbled loudly, drawing the attention of both Beck and Sikowitz. She looked down with a nervous chuckle and put her hand over her abdomen. "I guess I am a bit hungry, but there's so much we have to do." Sikowitz waved his hand in the air and spoke over her.

"You've got time, let me treat the two of you to dinner!" He spread his arms out and grinned. "It's been a long time, and I've missed the two of you, so it's the least I can do. It's the most amazing thing, I was just thinking about you guys a lot lately." Jade mustered a gracious smile and Beck nodded his head.

Perhaps his having been thinking about them was what led them to appear in front of him all these years later. Though whether their appearance before him was random or not, it didn't matter.

With all that she was worrying about; whether it be finding her children or figuring out how to reverse whatever it was her sister had done, Jade knew they needed time to actually sit down and think. So she was eager to take their old friend up on his offer for dinner.

"I'm all for it."

"Good," Beck said as he rubbed his stomach, "I feel like I could eat an ox right now…not sure if that has to do with her sister's weird spell, or my teenage body."

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So in an interesting way, their bodies are changing. Again. Thumbs up to anyone that gets that joke. What are your thoughts? How do you think their fathers are going to handle this, and what about their children-or more-Jade's sister? Do you think Holly expects this, or does she believe her sister and brother-in-law to be long gone? Does she regret it? Will she help them or hinder them? How much time do you think they have? If their minds and personalities start to fall back to match their physical ages, what could that mean for them? Could they forget everything they had, and how will they be able to reverse the curse? Jade knows very little of the dark arts her sister got into, remember that. They may need help, do you think?


	3. Where None Should Go

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

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Chapter 3 (Where None Should Go)

Jade chewed the bite of her steak slowly, absorbing the juices into her tongue as she looked towards the small makeshift stage in the steakhouse. According to Erwin, it was karaoke night at the restaurant. He was trying to get her to go up and sing, but she continued to turn him down, saying she hadn't sung in years.

During her teenage years, singing was something she enjoyed doing in her spare time. She studied music, and even obtained a degree in it. Most of her life she just wanted to be a homemaker, so when she had her daughters, she decided to stay at home and raise them.

"Who is that?" She heard Beck ask. Her eyes travelled to a woman walking towards the stage. The girl had a golden masquerade mask that covered her eyes and nose, and she wore a long purple dress with a trailing end. Her brown hair flowed like satin around her shoulders and was puffy like clouds.

"Not sure," Sikowitz replied while jerking his hamburger from his teeth. The man swallowed heavily and turned his eyes to the woman. "She comes here each week, always wears that mask and never identifies herself. She has a decent voice, but probably just doesn't want people knowing who she is outside the restaurant. We all have our reasons for privacy, I guess."

Jade smiled as the girl gingerly touched the microphone stand. "She's beautiful." She rolled her head to the right and set her fork gently on her plate. "Once people know you can sing, they start bugging the shit out of you to sing everything under the sun. It can get annoying if you only like singing as a hobby or for fun…so it makes sense."

"This is a popular place, she'd probably run into people she knows here. Hell, even I've tried asking her if she wants to enroll in Hollywood Arts."

"Oh?" She pursed her lips and turned to Sikowitz. "What did she say?" He chuckled once and shrugged.

"She just sort of smiled and walked away. I haven't approached her with the offer since."

The girl pulled the mic towards her lips and walked two steps to the right. "The song I'm going to sing for you tonight is a strange one. It's one of my favorite songs because, it is something I feel like I can relate to." She turned around and her chestnut eyes drifted to Jade's table. "It's from a 1997 movie, Anastasia. The lyrics have always stood out to me, and for a reason I'm not entirely sure, it feels like it could be perfect for my dreams..."

Jade pressed her lips together and moved her eyes to the corners of her sockets as a gentle yet haunting melody filled the silent restaurant. The girl shut her eyes and begun to sing with a soft, somewhat shaky tone.

"Dancing bears, painted wigs. Things I could almost remember…" Her eyes drifted back to the girl and her heart began to quiver. The girl's eyes filled with tears and her head shook gently from side to side. "And a song someone sings, once upon a December…"

The girl took a quick and deep breath while hugging herself tight. "Someone holds me safe and warm, horses prance thrugh a silver storm. Figures dancing gracefully, across my memory." Her eyes opened halfway and her voice rose to match the song.

Jade was captivated by the haunting melody and found herself struggling to pull her gaze from the girl. The girl extended her arm, closing her hand in the air as though grasping for something. "Far away, long ago. Growing dim as an ember-" She pulled her hand back, hovering it inches from her chest. "Things my heart used to know, once upon a December."

"Such an amazing voice she has," Beck said with a smile. Jade started to nod, tearing up as she thought back to the moments before her sister arrived. Fifteen years was a long time, but for her, her sister's curse was fresh.

Seeing Beck dressed in his Santa outfit, giving their daughter the powdered wig to play with, filled her heart with joy. "I wonder if the Care Bears still airs on television," she whispered. Her eyelids closed, splashing her tears out onto her cheeks.

"No," Sikowitz answered, "They ended a while back. Why?"

"Because our daughter was watching the care bears that day." Her heart broke when she remembered how their child had been watching from the high chair. Her unheard plea for her sister not to harm them in front of her burned still within her throat. "Our baby girl was asleep in her crib, but our oldest was in the living room. She saw us-" Her words fell apart with a broken voice and she quickly turned her head away from the singer on the stage. "She saw her mommy and daddy vanish…"

Beck bowed his head and Sikowitz took a deep breath. "Yeah," he said softly, "I remember. Poor girl was saying how 'Aunt Holly sent mommy and daddy away', so the police just figured the two of you ran off…no one believed any of us that said you two wouldn't just abandon your daughters."

"They never investigated?"

"No. It was just assumed you guys ran off." Jade clenched her fists beneath the table and felt a surge of anger and pain leaving her heart. "The police taped off your house, leaving it as a crime scene…then forgot about it. No one ever bought it."

"Can we see it?" Beck asked suddenly. Jade raised her head up and shot him a skeptical look. He glanced back at her and shrugged. "If it's still there, if no one owns it, then maybe there's something that could help us figure out what happened."

"So much time has gone by," Jade remarked. "What good would going there do?"

Sikowitz looked between the two of them and laughed. "That's not a bad idea," he replied. "A couple of my students want to check the place out tonight, so you could certainly join them." Jade raised an eyebrow and Beck immediately questioned the man.

Sikowitz raised his shoulders and moved his hamburger towards his lips. "Your old home is abandoned, left untouched. There's talk about it being 'haunted', among other theories-such as people having once practiced witchcraft there…"

Jade rolled her eyes and scoffed loudly. "Well at least one theory might be right." Sikowitz frowned and lowered his hamburger a bit.

"Yeah well…I've never bothered listening to them. It's hard enough losing a couple of your closest friends, it's another thing hearing a bunch of wild tales about what could have happened to them, and never knowing the truth." Jade's heart sank and her stomach tightened to the point she no felt a desire to finish her meal.

"Regardless, when asked, I told my students I wouldn't join them. They wanted to see this 'haunted house' for themselves, and I…" He breathed in shakily and cleared his throat. "I can't. Even now, with you guys here, I still don't know what to make of it all." He raised his head. "There is something there, though. Something you guys might actually want to look at."

"What?"

"Scorch marks or something." Her heart jumped to her throat and Beck's jaw fell open. "According to the old news reports, the only thing suspicious were the scorch marks in the center of the living room, where your couch was, and a sticky substance that was glued to the carpet nearby."

"Sticky substance?"

"Yeah, it was very black in color and I think they said it had a gum-like texture or something. You couldn't get it out of the carpet."

Jade's stomach turned over and she saw Beck's skin starting to turn green. "What the fuck did we drink?" He asked. Sikowitz raised an eyebrow. Beck put an arm over his abdomen and waved his hand violently through the air. "I'm done. I can't eat anymore."

"She gave us hot chocolate." Jade frowned and pushed her half-eaten steak forward. Sikowitz covered his mouth with his hand and let out a contemplative hum. "There was something really off about its smell, but she was my sister and I didn't think she'd do anything to hurt us…it tasted fine, but when Beck dropped his cup and it spilled out…it didn't look right."

"Nothing about this whole thing is right." Beck tugged at the black leather jacket he was wearing and his expression fell flat. "Such as, us not only having fifteen years of our lives practically erased…missing fifteen years of our childrens' lives…but we're wearing the same damn outfits we wore when we were fifteen."

"You don't have to tell me twice." She was wearing a dark eighties style jacket and long, skintight jeans. "It's 1980 all over again. I'm just fortunate we reverted back to a time _before_ my Pat Benatar phase. 2015, I think popping up dressing and looking like Pat Benatar would turn heads."

Beck laughed once and rolled his head to the right. "None so much as Prince would. I remember back in my high school days, I had posters of the Beach Boys, the Beatles, and the Rat Pack all over my walls."

"I wonder if people are still into all of them?" Jade's eyes darted to Sikowitz with hope and earnest. The man put money down on the receipt and started laughing. Jade pursed her lips and pushed his upper arm. "What? What's so funny? People are still into them, right? Honest question." He wiped a tear from his eyes while continuing to laugh.

It was not long before it was apparent that he would not answer. For he was still laughing even as they left the restaurant. "If I told you Michael Jackson was accused of sodomization, went from being black to being white, and died a year ago, what would you say?"

"Get out of here!" They shouted in horror. "One nightmare at a time, Erwin."

That evening, before attempting to meet their fathers, they arrived on Rosewood Ct where their home still stood. Three teenagers were waiting for them after having been informed by Sikowitz that they were to be joined by a couple new students.

Neither of them were sure what to expect or what to say to these students, or if they knew the names of those that once lived in the house. Even if they did, they would likely think the similar names were just coincidental.

When they approached the students, Jade took a moment to observe them. The one that appeared dominant and stronger was the dark-skinned boy standing in front. His shoulders were broad and his arms were crossed over his firm, muscular chest. He had a pleasant smile and his hair was styled with cornrows.

Beside him was a thin boy with thick glasses and curly black hair. He carried a puppet in his hand, which Jade thought was rather peculiar. Standing near the boy with the puppet was a girl with fire red hair and pink clothing, she had the friendliest smile and eyes that danced excitedly around the area.

"Oh look it's them," the girl exclaimed while running to meet them. "Hi! I'm Cat. Cat Valentine." Jade jerked back, blinking for several seconds before smiling back and shaking the girl's hand.

"Jade um-West." She frowned at Beck, who merely shrugged. The two of them had already agreed that it would be best not to use the same name. They were a teenage couple, so having the same last name might seem odd to people and induce others into asking a bunch of questions they didn't want to answer. "This is my boyfriend, Beck"

"Great!" Cat turned and waved at the two boys. "Andre! Robbie! Come on, come meet Beck and Jade." The boys introduced themselves as they walked over, and Cat spun back around. "Honestly, I'm glad you two are joining us. I don't like going into abandoned homes, it's spooky and sometimes it feels like we're intruding. You know what I mean?"

"Yeah we do." Beck leaned into Jade and lowered his voice to a whisper. "At the very least, with us here, it's not as much breaking and entering as it could be." Jade shut her eyes and mustered up a wide grin as she tried not to laugh.

"Door's locked," Andre muttered, "So we probably won't be getting inside."

"Locked?" Beck rubbed his chin and started to smirk. "Are you absolutely certain? Let me try." He put his hand into his pocket and walked up to the door. His smirk grew and Jade watched as he quickly removed his house key and unlocked the front door after jiggling the knob several times.

The door pushed open and Andre's jaw fell open. "Well what do you know." Beck turned and spread his arms out. "It wasn't locked, just stuck." He motioned to the inside of the house and looked towards Jade. "Shall we continue?"

Jade held her breath and closed her fingers together before her waist. Her eyes travelled to the overgrown weeds in the front yard and then towards the cracks and chipped wood running along the walls of her home.

The windows were boarded up and graffiti covered the place. Tears started to fill her eyes as she choked back a frustrated sob. She followed the others in and Beck placed an arm around her shoulders.

Sikowitz had been right about the inside, everything looked almost as it had so long ago, as though they only stepped out for a single day. "Oh god," she said while releasing a breath.

The high chair was positioned before the television, the portraits and paintings on the walls still hung, albeit crooked. The nearby fireplace still had ash from the logs they'd been burning that day.

In the corner of the room stood the Christmas tree, covered now with dust. The train beneath the tree had fallen over and the horse which once rested on top of it was broken in two and laying a few inches away.

Her heart shattered as she watched the three kids move about the living room. Her hand tightened around Beck's, clenching so tight she feared ripping his hand from his body.

He pointed with his other hand. "There's the couch, dear…" She gasped out and threw her hand over her mouth. The couch was on its back, the two end tables also lay on their sides. The vase that had been on them lay shattered on the floor, with long dead flowers crinkled beneath the porcelain debris.

It was the only area that had been disturbed, which wasn't surprising in the least. Jade felt her knees beginning to cave and she walked towards the couch, struggling not to fall to her knees and weep.

"Look." Beck knelt down and hovered his forefingers over a mark on the ground. "Scorch marks." The mark was large and shaped like a star, with an empty center where the couch once had been. "Erwin was right about that."

Jade pulled her hands to her chest and shut her eyes. "I can't believe the police never investigated foul play."

"This mark looks only barely like what would have been left behind by an explosion. I'm guessing there was no fire."

"An unexplained reaction? Spontaneous combustion or something?"

"Possible." She could remember feeling like she was going to burst, but didn't think that actually happened. If it did, then she couldn't help to wonder if they should have died. "The thing is, your sister said 'sleep'. I don't know if she intended to kill us…whatever happened was because her boyfriend was stupid."

"Yeah…"

A flashing light startled her and she spun around sharply, but restrained herself from shouting. Cat was standing near the markings and taking a picture of the scorch mark. "Sorry," the girl said while smiling innocently, "I didn't mean to startle you."

Beck folded his arm over his knee and raised his head up. "Why are you taking photos, Cat?"

"I wanted to show my grandmother, that's all." Cat lowered her phone and pointed to a spot nearby. "Look at that, there's something dry and sticky there. Won't come off."

Beck moved over, humming gently as he stared down at the large stain. "It's consistent with a spill." He rolled his eyes and sighed. "Like someone spilled a drink or something." He ran his fingers over the stain and tried tugging at the carpet. His brow furrowed and he raised his eyes to Jade. "Definitely stuck to the carpet. I don't think any amount of cleaner or stain remover is going to get this off, Jade."

"Oh excuse me!" Cat knelt beside him and took a pair of scissors from her pocket. Jade's eyes widened and Beck watched in silence as the girl cut a small patch of the carpeting out. "Sorry, don't mind me."

The girl put the patch of carpeting into a small plastic bag and shoved it into her purse. Beck opened his mouth, but closed it and dropped his head with a sigh.

"Look at this," Robbie called from the television. He pointed to the VCR left in the stand. "It looks like a cable box." Jade squinted her eyes and Beck brought his hand to his forehead.

"It's a VCR," Cat replied, "They used those back in the 90s."

"I know, I'm just saying…" Robbie tapped his chin and started to hum. "I wonder if we could sell it to like an antique shop or something." Jade's heart sank and anxiety rushed up her spine. "There's like a lot of vintage dishes in the kitchen, and figurines."

Cat picked up a small music box from nearby and shrugged. "I don't know if it would be a good idea to take things from the house." Jade smiled at the girl, watching as she turned the music box back. "Who knows what happened to the former inhabitants. Grandma always says we need to be respectful to the 'other side' and stuff."

"That's all fantasy and make believe."

"Not according to Grandma. She's very into spirits and the afterlife."

Andre walked out of a nearby hallway and jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "Guys, there's a nursery back here. Not to mention an old, incredibly smelly diaper stuffed into a trash bin." His lips curled and his nose shriveled up. Jade saw her husband swallow and his lips twitched as though he were trying not to laugh.

"You think that's weird." Robbie gestured to the kitchen. "There's still food in the refrigerator." He brushed his hand along his arm and sighed. "Plus I'm getting really uneasy here, like the longer we stay, the more sick I feel."

"We probably should leave soon," Cat remarked. "There might be a reason you feel that way, and it might be the reason nobody's ever touched this place. I want to talk to grandma about it, but she thinks that theory about magic being practiced or used here is accurate."

Cat folded her arms over her chest and furrowed her brow. "She says there are a lot of places in the world that are abandoned but no one has ever touched them because there's a certain feeling that remains…" Robbie and Andre pursed their lips and turned bored gazes onto the girl. "Whether magical or spiritual, that makes people sick to their stomachs. Don't take anything from this house that doesn't belong to you, not without paying respect."

"What about you? You cut that carpet out."

"But I did what Grandma says and told the spirits of the house my intention and gained permission from the other side."

"I thought you didn't believe in your grandma's stuff, Cat?"

"I believe a little bit. I believe in not disrespecting the spirits-and if Grandma's right, and witchcraft or something happened here, then you don't know what items might be cursed or what you might take with you if you steal from the house."

"Fine." Robbie rolled his eyes and Andre shook his head. "We'll leave everything here," Andre retorted. Jade couldn't help but to smile as she was impressed with the girl's tact and diplomacy. It was strange to hear someone so into the supernatural and the spiritual, though, at least someone other than her own sister.

As the two boys started to leave, Jade approached Cat with the hopes of getting to know the girl. "I didn't know you were into the spiritual kind of stuff, Cat." The girl smiled slightly and shrugged.

"I'm not as into it as my grandma is, but I think it's really fascinating. She says there's a lot that we don't realize about the spiritual world." Cat approached the scorch mark on the ground and tapped her chin. "Like this mark here? It looks like something that has to do with voodoo, I've never seen anything like it in my grandma's practice."

"'Practice'? You mean your grandma practices witchcraft?"

"Oh no, but she's wiccan. That's different, she says. There's wiccan, there's witchcraft, there's voodoo, and it goes on and on."

Jade looked towards the marking on the floor and took a deep breath. "You don't think that could have been just from a fire?" Cat shook her head.

"No I mean, maybe?" The girl looked to the fireplace and started to hum. "The only problem is, where would the fire have started? What could have caused an explosion, right? Absolutely nothing else in the house indicates a fire ever took place, none of the old news reports say anything about a fire-though there was speculation. The couple that lived here just up and left, and this is the only thing suspicious about the whole scene."

She squinted her eyes and pulled back the corners of her lips. "You don't think it's odd at all that a couple would leave their two baby girls behind, taking absolutely nothing from their home? Not even their car?"

"I think that is odd, but that's the thing." Cat walked towards the door and stopped just before the frame. Her foot tapped the ground and her eyes rose to the ceiling. "The news reports all say that the couple informed the woman's sister that they were taking off and wanted her to look after their children for a little bit. They never returned."

Jade bared her teeth as a new sensation of rage began to simmer within her. "Liar," she said with a hushed whisper. Beck put his arm around her shoulders and she began to shake violently.

"Hey look," someone said from behind. They turned to see that Andre had returned to the house. In his hand he was holding a small white gingham stuffed dog. Jade's eyes shot open and her heart burst with a vengeful fire. "This was by the kitchen door, it's an old gingham dog-those things were popular back in the eighties and nineties. We could certainly sell it."

Cat put her hands to her hips and slanted her eyes. "Andre no, what did I tell you?"

"That's not yours!" Jade exclaimed at the top of her lungs. She broke free from Beck's arm and slammed Andre into the wall, pushing the stuffed toy from his hands. Andre screamed out as she grabbed his shirt collar. "Leave it alone. Leave everything in this house alone."

The toy belonged to her oldest daughter, it was the first stuffed toy she'd gotten for her little girl. The toddler always had it with her, so seeing it abandoned with the house was far too much.

Beck pulled her from Andre, who quickly raised his hands and backed up. "Sorry," he replied hastily, "I didn't mean to make anyone mad." Cat stared at Jade for the longest time with a contemplative expression on her face. She leaned her head back slowly and turned to Andre.

"I told you not to try and take anything from the house, Andre. You don't know what might be attached to the object you take." The girl ushered him out the door, leaving Beck and Jade behind.

Jade tentatively picked up the stuffed dog and made her way to the corner of the living room, sitting beside the Christmas tree and staring straight at the high chair. She hugged the dog close to her chest and pulled her knees towards it.

Tears poured from her eyes and a sob shook through her body as she dropped her face to the stuffed toy. Beck stood in front of her, looking at her with a deep frown. His eyes glazed over and his head shook from side to side.

"This isn't happening," Jade whimpered, "This can't be happening." She gasped out and saliva spat from her lips. "Tell me it's not happening."

"I wish I could say it isn't real." He sat beside her and bent his knees upwards. His arms perched above them and his hands hung over them. He cast a lingering gaze to the door and a single tear ran down his left cheek.

Jade leaned into him, placing her head on his shoulder. Her gaze travelled to the mark on the ground and the trembling in her body increased further. "I want to clean my house up," she muttered. Beck pushed his hand through his hair and chuckled sorely. "It's dusty, it's unclean, it's tainted."

"We're going to fix this, Jade."

"How?" She rolled her head upright and looked up at him. Her eyebrows crashed together and curled up like a cat arching it's back. Her lips pouted out and her tears dropped to the stuffed dog. "How are we going to fix it? What if we never fix it?"

Beck looked at her, studying her eyes for the longest time. He sucked his lips inwards and his chest started to expand. After several lingering seconds of silence, he released a heavy breath and turned his eyes away.

"I don't know. I hate seeing you this upset." He closed his eyes and scratched his head. "God this has been the most screwed up Christmas. Why did we agree to come here? What were we hoping to find?"

"I…I wish we hadn't come here."

* * *

Well, what are your thoughts here? Seems we meet Andre and the others, Cat's grandmother may have some knowledge towards spiritualism and other things-I wonder if she might be able to help Beck and Jade. Sikowitz, I may just start referring to him as Erwin since that's what Beck and Jade call him, seems he has a pretty strong tie to the couple. Any thoughts on the mystery girl from the beginning? Oh we shall soon see their children. Next chapter, actually.


	4. Meet the Children

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: This chapter. The ending process of this chapter is going to show you something important. That is this story while it is true to the series, at the same time it is not to follow the story line by line or word for word. Some events that happen in the show will happen here, but they will happen differently because there are certain things that-despite both Beck's and Jade's issue of reverting back to their teenage personalities, the two of them just aren't going to do. So there will be differences, and you are going to see what differences those may be.

* * *

Chapter 4 (Meet the Children)

With her back against the locker in the hallway of the school, Jade had her eyes closed and listened to the serene music drifting from the music box in her locker. While it was chilling in its own right, it filled her with a sense of peace and happiness that she needed.

She hummed along with the tune, singing softly the words she knew went with the lullaby it played. Every muscle and nerve in her body was relaxed and her breaths were subtle.

As her eyes started to open, she could make out the image of her toddler standing before her. Watching her. Her heart skipped a beat and she moved her head slightly to the right. The image soon faded from view, and in the child's place was a girl with fluffy brown hair and wide chestnut eyes that looked hauntingly like those of her eldest child.

"That music, that lullaby…" the girl said with a soft and trembling tone. Jade raised an eyebrow up and glanced at her locker. "Where did you get that?" Jade wiped a stray tear from her cheek and reached in to close the lid on the brass box.

"My mother gave it to me. As for the song, she used to always sing it to me before bed." She wanted to say she did the same for her children, but held back knowing she couldn't explain what she meant. "Have you heard it before?"

The girl scrunched her nose and her forehead started to fold up in the center. "I…It's just really familiar, that's all. I can't say how, sounds like something in a dream." The girl smiled at her and tugged on her purse strap. "It's haunting, but in a beautiful way."

"Thank you. I'm Jade, by the way."

"Trina." Jade's heart stopped and her eyes shot open as a numbness came over her. Her jaw fell agape and she watched as the girl turned away. "Maybe I'll see you around. I need to get to class."

She remained frozen as Trina began to walk and sing the familiar lullaby softly, but loud enough to barely be heard.

The school began to blur as she focused on the departing woman, and once more she visualized her toddler as she walked away. "Katrina?" Her voice broke and her eyes filled with tears. Her hand rose to her chest and her fingers curled over her shirt collar. "My baby. That's my baby…"

"Jade?" Beck's voice stirred her and she glanced over to see him walking towards her. He was wearing a long button up t-shirt that hung loosely over his jeans, and his hands were pocketed. The shirt was new, since he had to go and replace it during lunch after a spill that occurred in the morning.

"Beck," she replied in a breathy tone. She closed her locker and leaned sideways against it. "I think I might have just seen our oldest daughter." Intuition said it was her, just like Beck had a peculiar feeling towards the girl they ran into earlier that same morning.

The events that occurred during the morning hours were strange to her, she'd fallen into a bout of extreme jealousy when she saw a girl rubbing a coffee spill on Beck's shirt, and her anger clouded her judgements. It was something she'd not experienced since her high school days, and it terrified her.

Beck said he had a strange feeling about the girl that he couldn't put a finger on, but decided to ignore it for the moment.

"How do you know?" He asked. Jade shook her head and looked in the direction Trina walked off in.

"Just a feeling I got. I was listening to that music box and she stopped by, saying the music sounded really familiar to her, as did the lullaby I was singing with it. She said her name was 'Trina' and started singing the lullaby as she left."

Beck's eyebrows rose and he looked in the direction she was, breathing in deep. "If it was Katrina, then we're closer to our kids than we realize. Which means your sister is probably still around this town. We need to find her."

"We do…" She hooked her finger over her lower lip and nibbled at the tip of her nail while furrowing her brow. Her mind drifted back to the girl from earlier and a flicker of guilt fluttered within her heart. "I hope that girl comes back, by the way."

"What girl?"

"The one from earlier. I was hard on her this morning. I know she left to go home, I hope I didn't run her off. I'm really not sure what came over me when I attacked her like that."

"Maybe she will." He crossed his arms and shrugged. "There's something about that girl that's been bothering me. I think we should at least talk to her again. You can apologize for going off on her if you want. She does seem to be new to the school…"

"You think she is? New like we are?"

"I think we're a different kind of 'new', Jade." He joked. She rolled her eyes and he nodded. "But yeah, I was talking to Andre earlier and he said she sang in this showcase over the weekend when her sister had an allergic reaction to something."

"Oh."

"Yeah, he seems to think the reaction was planned though." Jade raised an eyebrow and Beck crossed his arms. "The girl was staring at the food for the longest time, and he remembered hearing her tell someone she was allergic to the shellfish moments before she actually ate one."

Jade pulled her hand over her mouth and looked away. "I hope she's okay!"

"I think so. I guess she didn't want to perform or something." Beck let out a sigh and slipped his arm around Jade's waist while giving her a gentle smile. "Let's go on to class, I'm sure Erwin will be wondering why we're not there." Jade laughed and leaned up to kiss Beck's jaw.

Sikowitz had been wanting to spend so much time with them since they were there, and he was often trying to talk to them and fill them in on what all had happened in their fifteen year 'absence', but they understood and honestly enjoyed the attention.

"Sure." She put her head to his shoulder and walked with him towards the classroom. "By the way, how did your father handle seeing you last night? I know Erwin went with you to try and prepare your dad for the news."

Beck whisked his hand away from his chin and smacked his lips. "There is no preparing someone for that kind of news. Dad took it hard, at first he wanted to throw me out and accused me of pretending or trying to prank him. He looked ready to keel over for the longest time…" She frowned and lowered her gaze to the floor. "Eventually he came around after I told him some things that 'only his son' would know. Erwin being there really helped, though. He tried to be a voice of reason."

"Damn." It did sound like Sikowitz's presence was truly needed. Her experience wasn't nearly as difficult. The moment her father saw her, he broke down in tears. "My dad did question whether or not I was a ghost, he said he didn't want to be in pain anymore and stuff like that, but he knew I was who I said I was, even though he didn't understand how it was physically possible."

"Glad he seemed to understand. I figure with the stuff your sister was involved with, he might understand something."

"He did…he didn't want to think my sister could have done something so terrible, but when I explained what happened, he hardly bat an eye and said he wasn't surprised. It was so strange."

Evidently Holly had done or said some things that indicated to him that she'd used witchcraft in the past and had done so around Jade. For many years he began to suspect Holly had something to do with Jade's disappearance, but never wanted to accuse her of anything because Holly was the one and only link he had to his grandchildren.

"Dad hugged me and I thought he wasn't going to let go. He just kept weeping. He's had it hard, you know."

"Yeah. We have to make this right." Beck shook his head and looked over his shoulder with a frown. He turned back and a mournful sigh rolled away from him. "My mother passed away in 2000." She faced him and her body began to feel numb from grief of the sudden news. "Her heart just gave out on her. She was always the strongest one."

She remembered his mother fondly; the woman always smiled and was always making sure her husband took his heart medication. She often acted as though she were the head of the entire family, and had taken over the duties of the 'mother to the bride' during her son's wedding to Jade.

Jade smiled at the fond memory of the woman demanding the caterer take food back that wasn't perfect, and making sure the decorations at the wedding were done in a certain way that was appropriate.

Everything had to be in order, everything needed structure and stability. That was how Beck's mother lived her entire life.

Perhaps when they disappeared, the grief and not knowing where her son or daughter-in-law had gone was just too much for her to bear. There was no way to make order out of something like that, no way to find stability.

"I…" Her voice broke and bitter tears ran from her eyes as her chest tightened. "I can't believe it. I'm sorry, Beck."

He exhaled and ran his hand through his hair, his breath was shaky and his skin seemed cold and pale. "Let's think of something else. Erwin gave me one of his 'old' newfangled 'smartphone' and wants to educate me on all the things we can do with it."

Jade turned her head sideways and cringed. "I'm not sure what stuns me more. A phone that isn't a phone, or the fact that you just used the word 'newfangled'."

"It startles me as well."

"Which thing?"

"Both. Makes me wonder if we would have been 'those' parents." She tilted up the corner of her mouth and raised her eyebrow.

"What do you mean by 'those' parents?"

"You know the ones that kids say are so out of touch with reality? I would have liked to be the cool parent, but hey, if we're out of touch we're out of touch."

"For once, I blame my sister." She knew what kind of parent they would have been, or at least the parent Beck would have been. When their daughters were born, she would joke about the men they would eventually come to date and he would get all protective and nervous. "Too bad we couldn't see you be the protective dad I always thought you'd be."

"Hah, hah, very funny."

As they entered the classroom, Jade could see the girl from earlier talking to Sikowitz. She had long, straight brown hair that travelled about an inch past her shoulders, a sweet young smile and bright hazel green eyes.

There was a sense of closeness she felt that she couldn't put her finger on, much like what Beck had explained before. The girl looked towards her with a frown and stepped away from Sikowitz while rubbing her arm gently.

"It's good to see she came back," Sikowitz said upon approaching the couple. Jade flashed a smile that faded the moment his eyes hit hers. He looked disappointed and somewhat confused. "What happened this morning, Jade. I need to talk to you, perhaps, but later."

"What got her to come back?"

"Her sister convinced her that it would be better for her not to give up on this school because of one 'mean girl'." He crossed his arms and shook his head slowly. "Jade?"

"Like I said before, Erwin, I have absolutely no idea what came over me earlier." She wrapped an arm around Beck's and dropped her head. "I haven't felt that jealous, that upset, since our days in high school."

Sikowitz's brow furrowed and the man breathed in long and swift. "Jade. I understand, but there's a fairly good reason for you not to be jealous of a woman that approaches your husband. Beck isn't going to leave you for another girl…" He raised his index finger and cleared his throat. "That's reason number one." She pursed her lips and watched as he gestured to the girl. "Reason number two that you shouldn't feel jealous _especially_ of that girl right there-"

"Mr. Sikowitz?" The girl interrupted from behind. Erwin froze and glanced over. The girl was standing with her arms down in front of her waist. Her left hand was clutched over her right wrist, and her eyes were focused on Jade. There was a slightly vindictive tone to them, one that hurt her to see. "I'd like to volunteer for that improv act you have today."

"Okay." He turned to her and Jade slipped away. She grabbed an empty seat beside Cat Valentine, who was positioned behind the two boys they befriended before. "And who would you like to partner up with?" Beck started to sit down beside her, but froze when the girl spoke his name. "Um, okay, interesting choice. Let's see what you do with that. Anyone else?"

"Yes. Jade, Cat, Andre, and Robbie."

Beck followed the girl up to the stage and curled a finger over his chin as Erwin went on to explain the sketch act. They were to start a sentence with the designated letter of the alphabet, maintaining a conversation with the next letter in the order. If they break the order, they are out of the game.

Jade did her best to stay in the game, lasting longer than Andre, Robbie, and Cat, but she soon fell when the girl said something that upset her. This left the girl up there with Beck, and he seemed to be doing well to keep the conversation going.

To her understanding, the girl's name was Tori. Jade thought it was peculiar and interesting, because her youngest daughter's name was Victoria. Tori looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, but she didn't want to make assumptions after already running into Trina just a few moments earlier.

By the time they reached the letter 'J", Jade was noticing how stiff her husband appeared. He had his hand over his chin and his right index finger over his upper lip. His body was tense, his eyes narrow and his head bowed. It was the stance he took when he was deep in thought about something that was bugging him. Normally she would ask him what he was thinking about and try to figure a solution to whatever problem was on his mind, but now wasn't the appropriate time to do so.

Erwin was in the back of the room, nervously clutching a raw coconut in his hands.

"Kiss me," Tori said finally with a vindictive glance at Jade. Jade froze and she felt a sudden wave of anger pulse through her veins. She turned it away almost in an instant, not wanting to let an emotion she hadn't felt in years come to light.

In the corner of her eyes she saw Erwin flinch and instantly start sliding his hand across his throat as if trying to tell Beck to avoid this. Beck didn't break from his posture. His eyes slid out to the corners and moved from Erwin to Jade.

"Let's not do that," Beck replied with an incredibly calm voice. Tori's shoulders fell and she seemed to shrink as her expression turned from confident to hurt. "Something isn't right here."

Jade felt a rush of relief and sank into her chair with a content sigh. "Maybe just one?" Tori replied. Beck's gaze darted over and his index finger slid across his upper lip while his head shook from side to side.

"No."

"Oh, okay…did I say something wrong?"

"Possibly."

"Quit being so short."

Tori pursed her lips and put her hands to her hips. It was then that Jade noticed something odd about the girl's posturing. Her right forefinger was tapping on her waist, her right eyebrow had risen, and her left foot was slowly tapping, one second at a time, on the floor.

It was the same posture that Jade took when she was hurt but upset about something not going her way.

When she turned to look at Erwin, he was mouthing the words 'thank god' and appeared in a state of great relief.

Jade took a second to ponder the man's reaction and turned back to the stage. Beck lowered his hand and sighed heavily. "Right, sorry about that, but I think I should probably stop."

"Stop what?"

"Talking, since that's what might get me in trouble."

Tori's lips pursed and she spread her arms out. "What's going to get you in trouble just by talking?" Sikowitz stood suddenly, laughing and clapping his hands together once.

"Tori, you're out!" Tori turned to face him, her face twisted with shock and her eyes filled with disappointment. "The next letter was the letter 'U'. Understand that you shall not proceed, and the winner is Beckett." The man put his hand to his chest and his cheeks puffed out as he let out a loud exhale. "You may return to your seat now, Victoria…Vega."

Jade threw back her head and Beck's eyes grew into saucers as Erwin peered out to the two of them. _Vega_. The minute she recognized the last name, her heart sank and she began to question her own thoughts on the matter.

Vega was the last name of Holly's most recent boyfriend. David.

When she looked to Beck, she saw his skin turning green and his hands moved to his mouth and stomach. If it was true and this was their daughter, they would have to talk to the girl immediately.

The only question was how, and just what was there to say when they looked like teenagers? It wasn't as though they could come right out and say they were her parents, and certainly not after the show Tori nearly put on stage.

She wanted to laugh at the circumstance, she wanted to tease her husband, but couldn't stomach it. Tori was angry because of Jade's earlier jealousy, so she understood _why_ she wanted to get Beck to kiss her, but she was grateful now for another reason entirely that Beck had the sense of control to not allow it to happen.

He just dodged a proverbial bullet that could have destroyed him entirely.

* * *

Well what are your thoughts? Observations? Do tell


	5. Finding a Connection

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 5 (Finding a Connection)

After the class ended, Beck and Jade ran to catch Tori before she took off to go home. To their fortune, she was standing in the main hallway before the school's exit. With her was Trina, giving her a sisterly hug. Jade extended her hand, calling out to the girls. "Tori, over here. Do you have a minute?"

Trina slid back from her sister, placing a protective hand on Tori's shoulder while turning her head. Her eyes opened wide for a second and her eyebrows fell flat above her eyes. "That's her?" Trina asked to her sister. Jade nearly collapsed at the shock of hearing the anger in Trina's voice.

It was a terrible way to come across to her own child, but they didn't know.

Trina stepped in front of Tori and crossed her arms. Tori bowed her head, letting her hair fall forward. The girl swept her hair back and tucked it gently behind her ear. "You're the girl with the music box in her locker." Trina rolled her head to the right and scanned Jade up and down. "You're the reason my sister was almost ready to give up and go back to Sherwood? She deserves this school."

Jade held her breath and looked to Beck for support. His shoulders fell and he extended his hand. "You got yourself into this Jade, I can't apologize for you." She felt a stab of anger, but it was washed away by understanding. "You know we have to try and keep control." He smirked and leaned into her. "It's astounding, isn't it? Time is fleeting…Let's keep madness from taking control of us, dear."

She grunted with disgust and rolled her eyes. "Not now, Beck." She walked forward, stopping as flashes of that movie hit her mind. It was hardly the time to think about it. Beck had been obsessed with that movie and watched it every year since it came out in '75. To the point he would even watch it regularly once their children were born.

Trina's eyebrows rose and her index finger poked out towards Beck. "Good movie." Beck's face lit up with joy and Jade breathed out a despairing sigh. "Last Halloween when Tori was going to Sherwood, I convinced her to do a flash mob to the time warp song in her science class."

Beck laughed openly. "You don't say. What did her teacher say?"

"He got in on it." Trina looked back at her sister. "Didn't he?" Tori raised her head up and nodded. The girl's lips spread into a wide grin and she moved up next to Trina.

"It was amazing," Tori chimed, "Mr. Luyster took over as the professor's part. Our entire class actually did it during the school lunch period. You forgot that, Trina. It started in my science class, then we decided to go into the cafeteria, going from class to class." Tori threw her head back, laughing excitedly. "It was the best Halloween _ever_."

Trina chuckled softly and shook her head as she swept her hair over her shoulder. "It was pretty great, I wanted to be there but I had an appointment. I don't know why, but we've always loved that movie and that dance number."

Beck rushed forward with excitement, gazing proudly upon his two daughters. "You two should consider doing it here! Erw-Sikowitz would probably love to do the professor's bit in the Time Warp."

Jade tucked her hand under her chin and listened, amazed. She couldn't interrupt when her husband found something to connect to his daughters with, nor did she want to. Seeing him light up like this was pleasing, and there was no way of knowing whether or not they would ever be able to fix things, so it was crucial in her eyes to make these bonds while they lasted.

Tori looked away as Trina and Beck went on to discuss the _Rocky Picture Horror Show_ , and moved meekly towards Jade. "My sister's a bigger fan than I am, I think." Tori gripped her wrist before her waist and a timid smile graced her lips.

The nervousness in her eyes stung Jade, striking her with a painful guilt. "I'm sorry," Jade said abruptly. Tori's eyebrows rose and Jade had to resist the urge to hug her daughter. "I…might have overreacted this morning."

"No I'm sorry." Tori breathed in shakily and looked back at her sister. "I was just telling Trina what I was trying to do in class earlier, that I wanted to get back at you for earlier, and she scolded me for it. I guess I should be thankful nothing happened."

Her eyes darted over to beck and she cleared her throat. "Yeah…" Her lips slid into a smirk and she folded her arms neatly across her chest. "I think everyone's glad nothing happened. It was a weird moment."

"I know." Tori leaned forward, throwing her hand to her chest and starting to laugh. "Did you see the look on Mr. Sikowitz's face when I made that request? He looked ready to keel over!" Jade stifled a laugh and covered a growing smile with her hand.

"Yeah, I saw." Maybe Erwin got a bit old, but ages ago he would have been laughing his ass off at the concept of his best friend almost accidentally kissing his daughter. "He's really gotten stuffy these last few years."

"You know him?"

"Yeah I-" She looked out to the side and waited until an idea struck her like a light. "Have you ever seen the show, 'Boy Meets World'? From the early nineties?" Tori pursed her lips and clasped her left hip with her hand.

"I've seen a few reruns."

"You know the teacher? Mr. Feeny?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Sikowitz is like that for us." She lowered her hand and shrugged. "I guess he's always just been around." It was more true for Beck; the two men knew each other from close to childhood. Jade hadn't met the man until Beck brought him to a Pat Benatar concert she was attending in their first few years of high school.

She glanced at Beck, who was still talking to Trina about some of his favorite movies. Trina was now filling him in on the Terminator movies-of which there were new ones that had come out. Judging by his nervous fretting, he was going to want to watch any new movie that had come out in the last fifteen years.

Jade felt a spark of envy and looked at Tori with a smile. She wanted to find that common bond with her daughter as well. "Did you ever listen to Pat Benatar?" Tori's forehead crinkled and for a second, Jade was dismayed.

"Yes." Her heart shot up and her lips spread wide. "I'm actually a fan. Some of my friends from back at Sherwood would tease me, but I don't think she could ever fade." Tori's head tilted and her fingers snapped. "Love is a Battlefield is one of my all-time favorite songs."

"You don't say." Her heart skipped a beat and her thoughts drifted back to her first meeting with Beck. "Beck and I fell in love over that song. It's our song."

"Interesting choice."

"I had the strangest fixation with Pat Benatar growing up." She closed her eyes and hugged herself, swaying gently while thinking of the woman's songs. "Some days while cleaning the house, I'd put her on in the background for hours." Tori's eyes lit up with excitement and she started to laugh.

"Really? My mom was the same way, I'm told." Her muscles tensed with confusion and a new anger began to simmer within. Holly never liked Pat Benatar. She wanted to shout that at the top of her lungs, to scream that it was her thing.

"Your mom? Mrs. Vega?"

Tori's mouth formed an oval and her eyebrows arched high. "No. I mean my real mom." Tori's words almost floored her, washing away the anger and grief, and leaving only the confusion in her heart.

"Your-" She squinted and raised her hand to her chest. "Your real mom?" Could Holly have been honest with the girls? What did they know about her, and what did they know about Beck? "You mean your mother that raised you isn't your mom?"

Tori's eyebrows moved inward and she quickly crossed her arms. "Well she raised us, but no." There was an inexplicable sorrow in the girl's eyes, an indicator that this was a subject too sensitive to talk about. "We love her, we call her mom because she is essentially that, she's the woman that raised us even if it's out of obligation like Trina says."

Jade reached out to her, placing a gentle hand to Tori's shoulder in an attempt to console the girl. "I'm sorry if I'm bringing up something that's hard to talk about…" Tori raised her eyes and formed a sad smile.

"It's okay. I guess Trina has a harder time talking about it. I don't really know anything about my parents. Mom says they disappeared when I was just a baby, around Christmastime. Just a month before my first birthday, and a couple months before Trina's third. Other than that, mom outright refuses to talk about our parents."

"Oh…" Her hand slid down Tori's shoulder and she looked to the side as her heart beat slow against her chest. A somber feeling surrounded her as a fog might, and her once angered thoughts became concealed by doubt and confusion. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay. You asked."

"Yeah. I did…" She closed her eyes and shook her head. "I guess she never talks about the connection with your mother?"

"They were sisters. They had their good times and their bad times, like any pair of sisters, I guess. Trina and I, we've always wanted to know more, but like I said…mom doesn't talk about them."

"I-I can't imagine why." Her voice caught in her throat and a burning sensation grew beneath her eyelids, drawing her to sweep at it with her finger. "Maybe she didn't like her sister or something?"

"Wouldn't know."

It was a frequent thought that she'd been having, that her sister might hate her for whatever reason. She didn't want to acknowledge that possibility, or remotely fathom it, but she couldn't think of any other reason why her sister would cause her and her husband to essentially explode in front of their oldest daughter.

"If you ever saw her…" She closed her hands before her waist and looked into Tori's eyes closely. "Your mom. What would you say to her?" Tori looked down and to the right, considering for just a few seconds it seemed.

"Where did you go?" The girl's voice wavered for a bit and her eyebrows pushed up in the center of her forehead. "Why'd you leave us like that? Why did we never get to know who you were, and what happened?"

Her heart burst and she choked back on a sob. Her hands started to tremble, so she pocketed them and turned partially away from Tori.

Tori took a deep breath and pushed her hands through her hair. "Happier thoughts now." Jade swallowed air and looked up with a feigned smile. "Do you know that one guy? Andre Harris?"

"We've met."

"Well he's bringing a couple friends over to hang and talk about school, maybe you and Beck would like to join us?"

"I'd be happy to." She wanted to feel excited about this opportunity, but she couldn't bring herself to act on that joy when all she felt was a tremendous guilt and shallowness in her heart. "How did you come to know Andre?"

"He was in one of Trina's classes. She had that showcase she was supposed to perform in, and he was helping her. So I met him through that-just wait until you meet his crazy friends."

"Robbie and Cat?"

"Yes! You've met?"

"Oh yeah…" This would be an interesting afternoon for sure, especially considering the last time they met, she probably frightened Andre more than she should have. "So, when is everyone getting together?"

"In a couple hours. Trina and I are going to have dinner at this restaurant she likes to go to, then everyone's going to meet up at my place later."

"We'll be there, then." Tori smiled openly and told her the address of their place before leaving. To Jade's surprise, it was the same house that Holly lived at so long ago.

Beck approached her once the girls took off, he had a joyous expression on his face and was grinning like a proud father. "Our daughter's into martial arts, Jade. She likes the old classic singers and is an action movie buff."

Jade raised her eyebrows up and smirked at him. She was happy that he could find so much in common with their children, though not surprised. She didn't have the heart to tell him the things she talked about with Tori, for fear of knocking him off the pedestal he was on.

"Tori seems to be doing well too. I would have liked to talk to Trina, but I'm glad you got a chance to."

"Yeah." He took a deep breath and clapped his hands together. "You know…" His cheery expression became serious and he started to hum. "She informed me that she has had an on and off relationship with this guy she met at some camp a few years back, I want to meet this man." Jade rolled her eyes and smiled as she moved past him. "Seems just yesterday we were changing their diapers, and now they're growing up and dating people."

"It _was_ yesterday." She knew he was only trying to make light the serious nature of their problem, and it might have worked if she hadn't learned all that she had. "We're going to spend some time with Tori this evening. The girls live at my sister's place."

"You mean your sister still lives in the same house?"

"Yes." Her hands fell to her hips and she glanced sideways at the school doors. The tears she'd been struggling to keep spilled from her eyes, and the numbness in her gut stretched out to the rest of her body. "The girls know we're their parents." Beck raised an eyebrow and stammered for a second.

"Say that again?"

"They know we're their parents." She closed her eyes and dropped her head. "I don't mean _us_ , us, but Holly has told them essentially that she is their aunt. Tori says she's pretty sure her real mom and dad took off." She rolled back her head and raised her hand to her neck, cringing at the cold skin. "I don't know if Trina thinks the same or not, but I do know Holly refuses to talk about us to them."

"I guess I'm not surprised." His smile faded and a deep sadness flickered in his eyes. "I was thinking how we missed fifteen years of our daughters' lives, and now we can't even explain ourselves to them."

"I'm not so sure an explanation is even what they want."

* * *

They might like an explanation, but yeah, they probably don't want just explanations or excuses, and the truth might be a little harder to say. So, what are your thoughts? Think it's good they've been able to make this connection with their children? How about that Holly has in fact told the girls a little about their real parents? Maybe there's something more than what meets the eye. How do you think they should approach this? Should they tell Tori and Trina that they are, in fact, their parents? The girls might have trouble buying it, but at least they would know. At what cost would that come, however? Stick around


	6. Shell of a Home

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 6 (Shell of a Home)

The couple arrived around the same time as Cat, finding her staring solemnly at the large home. Jade stepped beside her, tugging on her own jacket while gazing at her sister's house. It still looked the same, even as all these years passed, acting almost as though no time went by.

"There's no love here," she heard Cat utter in the softest tone. Jade was taken aback and did a double take as Beck silently stepped away from the redhead. "I can sense it, there's no love in this house. Only existence. A sad, pitiful existence. Do they really live here? Tori and her sister?"

Jade reached over and squinted as she tapped the girl on the shoulder. "Um, Cat, how do you 'feel' this?"

"Oh." Cat looked over and mustered up a bright smile. "It's just something I've learned to pick up on. My grandma teaches me a lot of stuff, like how to feel the aura of a place." Jade raised her eyebrows and glanced back at the house with a sigh. "Kind of like when we went to that abandoned house. It felt so…lonely, so sad. The energy, I mean, it was somber."

"I'm pretty sure most abandoned homes feel like that." Cat shook her head and dropped her shoulders with a heavy sigh. "By the way, did your grandmother say anything of interest about the sample and picture you showed her?"

"She did."

Curiosity piqued and she leaned closer to Cat. "Anything?" Surely if Cat's grandmother knew about all this stuff, she might have some idea what happened. Cat hummed contemplatively and squinted her eyes.

"It's confusing. She analyzed the carpet stain, said it was something definitely used in voodoo rituals, but she can't figure out why there's a blast ring in the center of the living room. The two shouldn't go hand in hand, because that's a sign of a different kind of spell being used, and not what the liquid would have been used for."

Her heart sank and she glanced with nervousness at Beck. "A different spell? So voodoo stuff was used there, but so was something else?"

"Something like that, I guess. Grandma said the type of marking found in the living room is indicative of a transformation type spell, while the stuff associated with the stain is intended to put someone to sleep. Combining the two spells would be chaotic, because they would almost surely have an unknown or random effect on the victim."

"So what's your take?" Beck asked in a gruff voice. "What do you think happened to the couple? Did they simply run off and abandon their children?" Cat blinked multiple times and shook her head.

"Grandma says she is almost undoubtingly certain that they were a victim of a hoodoo ritual." She snapped her fingers and cleared her throat. "Note, voodoo, not Satanism or wiccan magic. Although, she thinks the transformation spell might be closer to Satanism. She isn't sure what exactly happened, but she says she is definitely certain that what happened in that house was a tragedy that befell the couple and led to their disappearance."

"But even she's not entirely sure what took place?"

"She has little idea." Jade cringed inwardly and for a moment she felt like throwing herself into the sea. This girl's grandmother was apparently a priestess or some kind of practitioner of whatever type of magic, and yet even she couldn't say with certainty what happened.

"Furthering that…" Cat paced a bit and tapped her chin. "Grandma said there were scrape marks in the residue of the blast marking-as though someone went back to collect whatever remains were there." Her heart exploded in a flurry of beats and she threw her hand up as though to catch them.

"What?"

"I don't know, but the area was disturbed. Grandma can't tell how recent it is from just the photograph, but she's sure someone was messing around there. Like I said, she knows little about what could be going on."

"At least she thought about it." It was beginning to seem like nobody would know, but then maybe Holly could shed light on the matter if she wished to talk about it.

"Why are you guys so interested in that place?"

Her eyes flew open and she was quick to think of something to say-anything to shake the girl's suspicion. "Just felt a connection there as well, I guess. Not really sure. Morbid curiosity, probably." Cat frowned and leaned back while scanning the pair with her eyes.

"You don't believe in all that stuff though, do you? Everything my grandma talks about."

"What's important is that you believe your grandma."

"I do."

"Good." As of this moment, Jade knew she'd be the last person to say she didn't believe in it all. She was living proof that rituals and witchcraft must exist, even if she didn't want to think that it did. "Is that why you said that house felt lonely?"

"Sort of." Cat approached the front door, stepping up onto the porch and turning around to face them. "It's really just the energy of the environment. Like when you go somewhere, you can feel a certain sensation to the place. If you walk into a place like Chuckie-Cheese, you might feel happy, comfortable. It's a place of fun, of laughter and joy."

"That…makes sense, actually."

"Right." Cat looked into the distance and grew very somber very quickly. "When you go somewhere like a cemetery, you might feel a great sadness there." Jade nodded and Cat turned back to them. "When you go somewhere that a tragedy happened-where someone died, or maybe there was a fire, or even a place that say a tornado or earthquake happened…great tragedy, great loss of life, you can almost feel that it happened."

"Is that what you felt back there?"

"Sort of. Like I said, it felt lonely. It felt empty, like the soul-the life had just been sucked out of that home. It felt angry too, in a way that I can't really explain. Someone, or something, just lost control there. I knew we needed to get out of that place, that if there was a presence lingering there, we were intruding."

"Intruding?" Jade heard Beck whisper. She glanced at him and saw his smile break into a nervous smirk. "Why we gave permission for everyone to enter."

He didn't want to believe in any of this either, she could tell. He was trying his hardest to find comedy in such a situation where comedy was impossible. Nowhere in her heart could she find fault with him for it.

Jade hardly even asked him how he was doing with everything, and here she could see, he was breaking as well.

"Let's go inside." Jade hit the doorbell and held her breath until Tori answered it. The girl poked her head out the doorway and her eyes lit up jovially when she saw them.

"You guys made it. Andre and Robbie have been here a while, so I was getting worried you guys decided not to come."

"Why worried?"

"They said it seemed like you guys didn't like them too much, that they annoyed you the other day."

"Oh. Yeah." She'd almost forgotten how badly she lashed out at Andre; but it felt as though he were trying to steal from her home, and she didn't like that. Tori stepped to the side and opened the door further so they could enter.

Andre and Robbie were lounging in front of the couch. Tori walked to the recliner and motioned for Beck and Jade to take a seat on the sofa. Andre glanced up at them and waved as Jade took a seat. "Hey guys."

"Sorry if I frightened you the other day, Andre. I guess I just wasn't feeling my strongest."

"It's alright."

"I just-" A familiar, haunting tune filled her ears and she twisted around to the television behind her. An animated movie was playing, with a girl spinning around the room while singing _Once Upon a December_. "That song?"

"Oh!" Tori grabbed the remote from underneath her in the recliner and hit the pause button. "Trina was watching that earlier, I must have sat on the remote without thinking." Jade thought back to the mysterious girl at the restaurant and she quickly furrowed her brow. "It's Anastasia, she absolutely adores this movie, or well, she loves that song."

"Has she ever sung it?"

Tori bit her lip and started to reply when Andre cackled. "That girl? Sing? She can't sing for shit." Jade watched Beck's eyes sharpen into a glare and fall onto Andre as though ready to pierce him like a knife. She wanted to punch the guy for talking about her daughter like that, but held back any display that might come across as odd.

"No," Tori replied while raising an eyebrow. The girl's tone was laced with hesitation and her eyes flickered from the group to the television. "Trina doesn't sing, or she doesn't like singing. She might do Karaoke once in a while."

"Karaoke?" Andre clapped a hand over his mouth and started to laugh. "Oh that would be fun to see. How badly would she mess up?" In the space of the TV stand between the top and the doors was a sight that grabbed her attention.

It was a small mask, golden in color and with tiny purple feathers framing the border of it. The mask had a small nose piece to cover the bridge, and two tear shaped eye sockets.

"So where is Trina tonight?" Jade inquired. Tori looked at the stairs and shrugged.

"She's upstairs, studying for a test. Doesn't want to be bothered right now." Tori looked over her shoulder and started to push herself up. "Can I get anyone anything? I have drinks in the fridge and all."

"I'll have some water, please." Jade flashed a smile and folded her hands in her lap. As Tori got up and left, Jade turned to Andre, still baffled by his earlier remarks. "Andre? Do you really think those things about Trina?" He raised an eyebrow as the others looked at him.

He pushed his hands behind his head and breathed in slowly. "Honestly Jade? You weren't here when those girls were practicing for the showcase. She sounded like a dying cat."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Positive. Fairly sure she can't sing, act, or dance. I don't even know how in the hell she got into Hollywood Arts."

She dropped her head to Beck's shoulder and shut her eyes. She felt her husband's body shift and heard his whisper to her. "Erwin told me he let Trina in the school because we were her parents. Evidently you have to audition to get enrolled there."

"Really?" She opened her eyes and raised her head sharply. "We didn't audition and he enrolled us." She hated being given a free pass to things, and Erwin knew that. Perhaps it had more to do with his missing them than anything else, but it still bugged her that he would do such a thing, whether for her or for her daughter. "I don't think Andre really heard Trina sing, by the way."

"Why?"

"Look." She pointed to the mask and saw Beck's eyebrows rise. "The girl at the restaurant was taller than Tori and had a different hairstyle, not to mention shorter hair."

"Strange. When we spoke, she seemed to be more interested in talking about fitness, working out, and athletic type of stuff. Maybe singing's just a hobby she doesn't want people knowing about? Necessary evil for getting into the school, possibly?"

"There's a thought."

Andre pulled his hands away and twisted around, looking up at them with a furrowed brow. "What're you guys talking about over there?"

Tori walked over with a glass of water in her hands and shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure," she said, "Trina might be a bit of an attention seeker if you want to think about it like that." Jade was horrified to hear the words coming out of her daughter's mouth, but slightly relieved when she detected a hint of deception in her tone.

"She is still your sister," Beck stated. Tori nodded and Jade took the glass of water carefully from Tori. "I mean, you shouldn't speak ill of her. Right, Jade?" She sipped her drink and closed her eyes.

"My sister and I had our disagreements." She wanted to instill some sense of value and wisdom if at all possible; and hopefully her daughter might pick up on that. "Serious ones. Still, she's my sister and I could never bring myself to hate her or belittle her, no matter what she may do or say." The statement was as true as it could be. Despite what Holly had done to her and to Beck, she still loved her.

Someone nudged her ribs and caused her to nearly drop the water. When she looked over, she saw Beck motioning behind her. When she turned to look, all of time appeared to cease, and her vision focused on that of her sister standing just outside of what appeared to be a study.

Holly didn't look much different than she had fifteen years prior, though she had slightly more wrinkles and crow's feet around her wide hazel eyes. Her jaw was open in an expression of horror and her entire body shook as if touched by electricity.

"It can't be," Jade heard Holly say with a soft voice. David walked up beside her and furrowed his brow at them, but he didn't appear to recognize Jade or her husband.

Jade felt the air in her lungs deplete as the storm inside her stomach rose to burn her throat. She fought back the tears beneath her eyes while biting on her tongue hard enough to draw blood.

Her hands clenched as the pain in her chest became excruciating. _"What do I do here? What do I say?"_ She could shout, she could make a scene, but she didn't want to frighten or concern the others.

Holly's eyes glazed over and she planted her hand to David's chest for a moment before striking him to guide him back into the study.

Looking back, she noted nobody else catching this display. Part of her wanted to confront Holly now, but another part of her wanted to observe the couple and see how they were. The only way to do that was to act like they were not who the couple thought they were-though Holly would undoubtingly recognize her own sister. It was worth a shot.

"I want to see what she does," she whispered. Jade tried to focus on how she felt upon seeing Holly, but in that moment, all she felt was pity and grief. "I want to be angry with her, but for some reason, I just can't…"

"What do you want to do about this, then?"

"Let's just see how our daughters turned out." It was all she could think of, to figure out how Trina and Tori were doing. She wanted to feel close to them and to know they weren't so terribly off.

Unable to hold her tears back much longer, Jade excused herself and let Tori direct her to the restroom where she locked the door and collapsed against the wall. Her knees pulled up to her chest and her trembling hands rose to cover her face.

* * *

So what are your thoughts here? What do you think about what Cat said? Perhaps they should seek help in her grandmother. Looks like Holly's seen her sister for the first time, I expect a conversation may soon be happening between the two of them. What are your thoughts for the future?


	7. Stability and Shelter

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 7 (Stability and Shelter)

"What the hell is this?" Jade paced in front of her former home, staring down at the smartphone her father had given her. It wasn't new so much as it was a former version he owned before upgrading to a newer version.

His explanation of the phone and the process of its upgrading made about as much sense as Erwin's had. She was still hung up over 'data' and 'wifi'.

Currently she was the internet, making use of the unlimited data plan her father had, which she thought may have been a good thing since she was using so much trying to figure out how the phone operated as some sort of pocket computer.

"Why am I bothering with this right now?" She lowered the phone and took a slow, deep breath. Every nerve in her body was screaming from the storm her stress-filled mind was under fire from. "Screw looking up Benatar…whatever happened to cassettes and records?"

Her father had also given her something called an iPod, and she left it his house.

With a steadying breath of air, she pushed open the seemingly ancient door to her home and walked in. In the center of the room were a number of house cleaning products she brought over from her father's place. Chores around the house always calmed her, steadying her mind from any frantic thoughts or depression she may have suffered, and now was the perfect time to get to cleaning.

The teenage emotions and anxiety she'd faced so long ago were finally returning to her; she'd recently had a thought that Beck might be looking towards other girls again. That was when she knew she needed to find a way to regain control of her thoughts and her emotions; it was of little doubt to her that she'd be able to find a way to save herself and Beck if she didn't find stability.

"Broken home, here I come." She grabbed a pair of thick latex gloves that slightly resembled gardening gloves, and yanked them over her hands while examining the living room from the top down.

"Sweeping's last." Her eyes narrowed and she spoke to the house as though speaking to another person. "Think I can't clean you up? Don't underestimate a stressed out housewife with nothing to do…"

She felt a sudden chill that ran down her arms and legs, leaving a trail of goosebumps behind. "Another thing…" Jade inhaled deep and started to growl. "What that red haired girl's saying about spirits and rituals? If any spirits, demons, or otherwise are hanging around in this house right now. It's time you left, this is _my home_."

Jade stepped forward, her eyes drifted to the left and her nostrils flared. "I was going to raise my babies in this house, my husband was going to retire in this home, and we were going to die in this home." Tears welled up in her eyes and she started to choke on the saliva building up in her throat. "We were going to ie old and with grandchildren, not young and in front of our baby girl. This is my house, and if there is anything 'connected', you have to leave. Now!"

Her firmness brought forth her confidence, and she felt an overwhelming amount of peace in the odd silence of her home. Feeling as though she won, if there was anything to win against, she smirked and grabbed the broom and dustpan.

"Well then. Let's go ahead and get started, shall we?" While she wanted to do the sweeping last, she needed to get all the debris out of the way. The structure of the home still seemed stable, despite being left to rot for fifteen years. There was a chance she could convince Beck to do some heavy duty work on the home.

"Deed's still in our name, we still own the house, so no one can question _that_ ," she thought.

It was true that both her father and Beck's parents never sold the home, for reasons she didn't quite know, but she was grateful. As far as she understood, her father said they held out hope maybe one day the couple would return, and they wanted them to return to a home.

Perhaps a more accurate statement would suggest that her father had taken over ownership of the home, but left it empty and untouched for almost the last decade.

Several hours went by before she was anywhere near finished, and it was beginning to grow dark outside. Jade decided to take a break by sitting at the stone island counter in her kitchen and to start up the laptop computer she had with her.

It was another gift from her father, this time it was something that he went out of his way to go to the store and buy.

Her father had already done a great deal for her in regards to this particular home; for example, he called the electric company and had them turn it back on. The things he was having done was because she asked him to.

As for internet access, for now she was using the way that was familiar to her: Ethernet and phone lines. A dialup modem was 'simple' and a 'thing of history' for these present times, but she liked having the feeling of working with something familiar at her fingertips.

Alone in the empty kitchen with only her laptop in front of her and the dim ceiling light above her, she felt incredibly nervous and uncomfortable. Beck was going to swing by since he knew she was there, but he couldn't get there fast enough.

Beside her computer was a plate with cheese and crackers. As Jade searched the world wide web, she grabbed a cracker and focused half her attention on it as she ate.

The internet as it was had changed dramatically since 1995. Gone were the days of the simplistic browser and floppy disks, now browsers could hold multiple 'tabs' as they were called and almost anything could be found just by typing a question in a search bar.

Seeing websites like Amazon and Ebay filled her with amazement and intrigue. Witnessing internet celebrities like those on youtube and iCarly provided a distraction from the somber silence that surrounded her.

Then came the more stunning discovery; social media. While at the school, she heard a student make a comment about parents finding their children on social media, or how their grandmother discovered Facebook and was posting countless cat photos.

"Beck might do that," she laughed while staring at what was called a 'meme' of a grumpy cat. The image was of the cat in front of a burning home with the words that said _The Christmas Spirit? I exorcised it._

She belted out a brisk laugh and wiped away a stray tear while moving her eyes to the living room. Beyond the archway leading into the room was a light that came from the Christmas tree. She'd gone through the process of dusting every orb and cleaning it as much as she could, but wound up getting new Christmas tree lights since the old ones no longer worked. She didn't care much for Christmas anymore, not after what happened, but maybe things could change.

Much of the day not spent cleaning had been spent shopping for these new things, including food. She was considering moving back in the house, but wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not. On part, she didn't want to burden her father or force herself on him, but he was old and she wanted to spend time with him.

Jade stared back at the computer and looked to the registration screen of Facebook. "Email?" Her face scrunched and her forehead started to crease. "My email doesn't work anymore." She used to have an AOL server back in 1995, but the times had changed and that no longer was an option.

One of the sites that was prominent was yahoo, so she decided to create an email through that.

It took her several minutes to get an email set up and then an account on Facebook. The only reason she wanted to get one was because Erwin described it as a tool to keep in touch with friends and family.

"Okay." Her fingers slid off the keys and curled into her palm as she leaned towards the screen and stared at the 'upload photo' option. "How do I upload a picture?" She scratched her head and mumbled under her breath. "God I never thought I would be out of touch with technology. It's left me behind…"

There was a button that allowed her to skip the step, so she reached for the mouse and hurried past that part of setting her account up. When she reached a screen allowing her to enter a status, she thought for a moment and began to type.

"Taking a break from cleaning. Need help with this Face…book thing…"

Her shoulders dropped and she let out a sigh of defeat. All of a sudden a red number appeared over an icon in the upper corner of the screen. Her eyebrow rose and she clicked it, jumping back as she saw two people friend requesting her: Tori and Trina Vega.

Her heart began to thump and she hit the accept button on them. A message box popped up and she saw something from Tori. "Hey Jade, Trina and I were just lounging around after dinner and thought we might look you and Beck up on our phones. Did you just set up an account? It doesn't look like you have much…"

Tori added Trina to the chat. "My god she has less stuff on her account than our father," Trina said. Jade's face turned red and her eyes darted away from the screen.

She returned her hands to the keys and narrowed her eyes. "I just made a new account. I'm new to Facebook, and I'm sure your father would have a time with it too." Once she hit the enter key, she instantly regretted it.

To her surprise, the girls responded with an L-O-L. She didn't recognize what it meant, but didn't want to ask for fear of embarrassing herself. "Our dad hates facebook with a passion," Tori replied, "Also, we noticed Beck doesn't have an account."

"Hey Tori, did you see Jade's status message? I think she needs someone to walk her through setting Facebook up. Maybe you want to do that?"

"No I'll be fine," she typed hastily. She needed help with more than just Facebook, and she didn't want to admit that to either one of her daughters. Instead, she preferred to learn on her own.

Trina responded first after that, telling her if she wanted to get acquainted with what she could see on facebook, to click her name. "My account is set up as private, so unless you're on my friends list, you can't see anything at all about me. Since you're on my list, you can see certain information that I put out there…so go ahead and take a look, you can see what all you would be able to do with Facebook."

"Thank you." Jade did as suggested. Seeing her daughter's account page was so surreal to her. The primary photo was that of a glamour shot, and she gazed at it for a lingering amount of time. The photo was breathtaking, and it drew a tear from her eye.

As she scrolled, she could see the 'about me' page. It said Trina was 'in a relationship', and there were a few 'comments' on that status. One of which was Trina herself, answering a question someone posed. She stated the man was someone she met at camp, named Jason, and he didn't use social media.

It was intriguing and it made her happy to see she wasn't the only person in the world that didn't have social media.

Furthering that, there was only a few people in Trina's contact list-most of which were classmates or people she may have met personally. Clicking onto Tori's, she saw the girl had at least a couple hundred friends.

"Do you know all those people?" She typed to Tori. "Your sister only has a few in her friends list." Tori replied with another l-o-l.

"You sound like our mother," Tori replied. Jade scoffed and was tempted to type that she was, but thought better of her impulse. "No, some of those are friends of friends and others are just people who sent me friend requests."

"She's popular," Trina said while adding a face icon that was rolling its eyes. "I only use Facebook to talk to people I personally know. If someone sends me a friend request and I don't know them, I'm not adding them."

"Good, it seems like it could be dangerous having people you don't know looking at all your personal details." She knew she sounded like a parent, and to her credit she was one, but she also realized the importance of being careful not to sound older than she appeared. This was despite mentally being as old as she truly was.

As time passed by, Beck arrived with some items from the hardware store. Jade met him at the front door with a hug and took a step back to let him take in the newly cleaned home.

His hands clasped his waist and his chest puffed out as he inhaled strongly. "Wow," he said while scanning the clean living room. "You've outdone yourself."

The living room stains were still present, unfortunately, but other than the scorch marks and the spilled stain on the carpet, every surface was near spotless.

"Are you wanting to move back in, Jade?"

"I don't know." She took him by the hand and guided him into the kitchen. "I think it'll be good to come back here from time to time. I missed it, and it's still our home. Plus, with everything going on, I needed a stress relief. Housework helps."

"Do you feel better?"

"Yes."

He kissed her cheek and she smiled back at him. "Good. As long as you got it out of your system, that's all that matters."

"I talked to Trina and Tori, by the way." She pointed to the computer and watched Beck's cheery expression fall the moment he laid eyes on the device. "Set up a Facebook account and everything."

"Yeah, all this new technology stuff is over my head." She chuckled as he shook his head and moved towards the computer. "How are the girls?"

"Doing well, I think. They were on at the same time after eating dinner, so we talked through IM." Her hands slid towards her waist and her lips started to purse. "I probably sounded like a middle aged woman to them, though."

"By all accounts, we _are_ middle aged." He sat at the counter and flashed a handsome smirk. She sat beside him, slowly moving her hand over his and gazing into his eyes. A warm, comfortable feeling swept through her, drawing peace out from within. Beck leaned forward, gently kissing the top of her head. "I love you."

"I love you." She placed her head on his shoulders and slipped her arms around him. While he was there to work on the windows and other parts of the house's structure, she just wanted him to hold her for now.

Beck hugged her back and they swayed together, feeling at peace for the first time since Holly's weird ritual. Perhaps now they could attempt to find stability, and fixing up the house was certainly a good place to start.

* * *

Always fun seeing Beck and Jade trying to figure out technology. You have to remember, in 1995, things were much different-especially the internet. So, what are your thoughts on everything happening here?


	8. Fading Memories

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 8 (Fading Memories)

Jade carefully placed the jar of ash and residue on the mantelpiece above their fireplace as Beck watched from the center of the living room. "Well the interior is done," he said with a sigh. Jade stepped backwards and smiled as she felt him place a strong hand onto her shoulder. "I don't know what shocks me more, you managing to sweep up all of the residue from the blast, or that you want to save it."

"It's a reminder." She glanced down at the carpet that was lit up by the sun piercing through the freshly cleaned windows. The liquid spill remained in the center of the carpet, but they moved the couch over it. "We can hide the spot on the carpet, but the ash just exists to keep us remembering our goal."

Beck's chest expanded and his mouth shut tight as his gaze searched the jar for what seemed to be an eternity. "I suppose. I can feel my mind slipping, and I am beginning to forget things." She twisted around to him, pursing her lips as his gaze fell from the jar. "So you're right…looking at that, it's easy to remember what happened."

"What do you mean you're forgetting things?"

"Just stuff that happened in my twenties. Things I try to recall, but can't." His arm slipped down to her waist. A somber look flickered in his eyes and his forehead wrinkled. "For instance, I can barely remember when our oldest was born."

Her heart stopped and she pulled away with a startled gasp. "How could you ever forget that day?" It was one of the happiest days of his life; the day he became a father. She searched the frown on his face and the misty glaze in his eyes and her heart began to sink. "You're seriously beginning to forget things?"

"Yeah…" Jade squinted her eyes and tried to think back to the moment she first held her newborn baby in her arms. It was the day she first discovered the joy of being a new parent, the moment that would forever change her life. "I didn't want to worry you, but-"

"Hold on." She raised her hand and shut her eyes. Her breath grew heavy and her brow started to furrow as nothing but blank space filled her mind. She could see the image of her daughter in her arms, but she couldn't recall the feelings that she felt. She couldn't remember the emotions in her heart or in Beck's eyes.

It was as if she were staring at an entirely different mother and child, a pair that she felt little emotion or care for.

"Oh god." Her eyes began to fill with water and she grabbed Beck's hand, whimpering as fear trembled from her lips. "I'm forgetting too. What's happening to us?"

"I don't know." He walked to the couch and sat down. As he hunched forward, he raised a hand up over his mouth, sliding it along his face and pushing it through his hair. "I don't want to lose my memories. We're not even old enough to go senile yet. Even if we looked the age we should be-forty five is too early for senility."

"Not necessarily, but I don't think that's what's happening here." She fell beside him with a loud huff and leaned sideways into him. "How do we even figure this out, Beck? I don't know anything about magic, witchcraft, or anything remotely like it."

"That girl's grandmother does." He dropped his hands and looked towards her. "Do you think she'd believe us if we went to her? I mean, I can hardly believe any of this. If I wasn't living it, I'd say it was all nonsense."

"So would I."

Somehow, being in the house helped to salvage her memories-as though connected to it. The last thing she wanted was to be confined to the home, but if it came to that, then staying there was what she would do.

Talking to either Holly or Cat's grandmother might lead nowhere, but they needed to try something. "Holly did this to us, Beck." She raised her head and curled her eyebrows together. "I don't know if she'd help us or not. As for Cat's grandma? I don't know if she'd even believe us…regardless of whether or not she practices this magic stuff."

"We can't just sit here and diminish, Jade." His voice rumbled with frustration and he stood sharply from the couch. "I'm not just going to give up." She clasped her hands together between her knees and dropped her head.

Her body started to tremble as anxiety poured from the heavy beats of her heart. "Neither am I." She raised her hands to her forehead, and a sob shook from her lips. "But I'm scared."

She felt her weight shift on the couch as her husband sat beside her and draped an arm around her shoulders. "I know you are. So am I." He pulled her close and gently rubbed her back, but it didn't soothe the fear biting at her. Tears poured from her eyes and fell like rain from her face. She could feel the vibrations like beats from a drum coming from Beck, and when she opened her eyes, she noticed how wet his cheeks were as well. "So am I…but we're in this together, and we'll make it out together. Somehow."

Just then the front door swung open, and the couple threw their heads up with a start. Jade's heart stopped on a dime when she saw Holly standing in the doorway. "You two can't be here," she said with her words concealed by a rush of air. "It's not possible. You're dead. You died fifteen years ago, I saw it."

"Clearly not." Beck's muscles tightened and his nostrils flared. Sensing trouble, Jade pat his chest and rose from the couch.

"Holly," She said with a quiet voice, "What did you do to us?" Holly crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. The woman's glare was like poison, burning Jade more with each second that passed.

Anger stirred in her heart and she stepped forward, raising her voice to echo off the walls of her home. "Look at us Holly." She spread her arms out and Holly bowed her head. The woman's fists clenched at her sides and the corner of her mouth opened to show her grinding teeth. "Why are we fifteen again? Why are we fifteen years into the future? What were you trying to accomplish!"

"Not this." Holly raised her head and spoke with a calm, but wavering voice. "I had no idea you would appear to us all these years later." The woman's sharp eyes grew weak and misty. "David used a transforming spell, one that began to turn back the time on your age. Right at the same time, all I wanted to do was put you into a deep sleep…"

"Turn back our age?" Jade's eyebrow rose and she turned sideways, glancing nervously at Beck. "Is that why we're forgetting things?"

"It's possible. Your mind, your personality, it should have turned back with you. If it hasn't, it's because of the two spells being combined, or something, I don't know. So if it's happening now, it must be a slow process…"

"But you did this." She extended her arm and began growling as the rage within her heart tempted her to attack her sister. "You caused this to happen."

"No. No this isn't what I wanted. Even still, the incantation David used shouldn't have brought you here in time." Holly's thin lips flat-lined and the woman reached out a bit, shaking her hands. "I only said 'fifteen' because I knew he used an aging spell-and that was the first number I thought of. I don't know what brought you here, but it could have been that spell…if you are even here in physical form."

"Clearly we are."

"No. You should be dead. You can't be alive."

"You wanted me dead? Is that it?"

"No!" Holly's voice bellowed like thunder and her hands slammed shut as the woman's chest started to expand. "I was going to force you to sleep, force you into the basement of my home. 'Sleep in the shadows'."

Her words hit Jade like a tidal wave, throwing her back emotionally and drawing tears to her eyes. Her anger was diminished in an instant and replaced by a sudden onset of grief and nausea.

To think her sister was going to hide her away all these years rather than simply killing her was hard to swallow; and while she didn't want to believe it, it didn't sound like Holly was lying.

"The ritual? It was supposed to put you to sleep, but leaving you subconsciously aware. I know it was cruel for the time, but I was angry…I wanted you to feel the pain that I felt, being the one in the shadows-being the one forced to watch while your sister gets everything she ever wanted and lives a happy successful life."

"Holly…"

Anger flashed in Holly's eyes and the woman's breath seemed to hiss as she inhaled. "But I am the successful one now. I work at the hospital as a registered nurse, my husband's a police officer. We've raised our nieces, are fortunate enough to have plenty of money…we're happy now. You two _can't_ be here."

"Well we are, and we want to go back."

"No." Holly shut her eyes and her hand trembled over her mouth. Jade flexed her fingers and took a step towards her trembling sister. "No, I couldn't help you even if I knew how. I can't-I can't lose everything I've built."

"And I can? Holly, how can you be greedy even now!"

"Because I'm finally happy." Holly chuckled sorely and dropped her hands to her waist. "I finally have the life I've always dreamed of." The woman stepped forward, to the point she was only an inch from Jade.

Jade could feel the woman's hot breath striking her cheeks, heating up the blood beneath her skin. "I'm only here to let you know, I'm not going to let you take that away from me." Jade gnashed her teeth and slammed her fists shut.

"You should be glad I don't know the first thing about magic, curses, rituals and all that shit." Even if she did, she wouldn't do this to her sister. "You must have been pretty damn desperate to do this to your own sister. Sending her forward in time and all that?"

"Are you not listening? I just said _that_ wasn't my fault." Holly poked Jade in the chest. The jab sent a wave of pain through her, forcing her back a step. "You shouldn't even be standing here-I don't know what spell could have brought you here because it wasn't what I did. Nor was it what David did."

"Well shit, it must have been that 'unpredictable consequence' of combining the two spells." Jade pushed Holly's arm away with an angry scoff and turned away from the woman. "I just want you to know, I don't hate you. You're my sister, and I could never hate you, but what you've done to us? I can't even bring myself to even think of how I feel right now…forgiveness is pretty far from my mind at the moment."

"I don't need your forgiveness, Jade." Holly crossed her arms and her eyes darted out to the sides. "Besides, even if I wanted to help you and Beck go back to where you belong…I wouldn't know how. I've forgotten a lot of spells and rituals."

Numbness overtook Jade's body and she turned her head sideways while uttering a whisper. "What does that mean?" The anger in Holly's eyes faded and her shoulders shrugged.

"After what happened to you and Beck, I stopped. That was what you wanted after all, was for me to stop, right? You called it dangerous, I wouldn't listen." Holly's trembling voice was shattering to listen to, and it carried a tension that Jade never expected from her. "I watched you and Beck vanish, Jade. The two of you, I thought, exploded right there…." Holly raised her hand to the side of her head and started to groan. "All I can remember from that was hearing your daughter scream so loud, and I must have hit David so many times-I-I couldn't do anything."

Jade twisted partially, her eyes slanted and her nostrils flared as Holly's mournful gaze hit hers. "Don't you understand, Jade? You and your husband can't be here. The memories you have that you say you're forgetting? That should have happened to you fifteen years ago as a result of David's spell, had mine not done anything to you."

Jade questioned Holly in silence, processing the conversation word for word. Her eyebrow rose and the frown lines around her lips deepened. "Wait a minute, Holly. Are you saying there might actually be a way to go back and change things?" Holly was saying she couldn't help even if she knew the right spells, but if she was saying something like that, then there must be a way.

Her heart leapt joyously and a smirk formed at her lips. "There's a way to reverse it. To go back and keep ourselves from waking up in this time, and you don't want to help because that means you lose everything you gained from what you did to us."

Holly averted her gaze and bit down on her lip. Jade waited for a response which never came, watching only as tiny beads of sweat formed under Holly's bangs. "I see." Jade breathed in slow to calm the simmering rage inside her. "You stole my life-ruined it. Thank you for taking care of my daughters, Holly."

"Jadelyn-"

"Shut up." Her eyes flew open and Holly's body stiffened. "I may never get to see my children grow up, clearly I missed the last fifteen years of their lives. I missed my youngest baby's first steps, her first words. I've obviously missed Trina's first date."

"Tori's too, actually."

Her head leaned back and she closed her palms together, prayer style as the energy in her body collapsed. She heard Beck mumble something, but ignored it. "Okay Holly I think it's time you left." She forced Holly around and began shoving her towards the door. "You may have done your thing because you were jealous, and maybe you want to be greedy and keep things the way you had them….Since there seems to be a way to fix this, we're going to, with your help or not."

Holly turned around once she was on the porch and raised a hand to the wall for leverage. "Jade, it's just, the way things are now-"

"You're happy?" She couldn't take it any longer and lunged forward, releasing the anger she was holding back. "Yeah well if you were so fucked up before, you could have asked me for help. I was your sister. I would have done anything to help you, but what did you do? You destroyed my life."

She pushed Holly forward, grabbed the woman's shirt and yanked her forward, growling as she glared into the woman's fearful eyes. Holly's eyes grew wide and she gripped Jade's wrists, digging partially into the skin with her nails.

"You have the gall to keep me from trying to get back the life _you_ stole from me? We'll figure a way to fix this, and once we do, you'd better watch your back because sister or not-I'm a mother first and foremost."

"My goal wasn't your children."

"I know, just an 'unfortunate circumstance', right? Still, they're my children and I'll get them back. I'll get my life back. So if you won't help, then stay out of my way." She released Holly, watching as she stumbled backwards. Holly put her hand to her chest and looked up, gasping as Jade slammed the door on her.

She turned her back to the door and started to bring her hands to her head, growling with frustration. "She pisses me off so much," she exclaimed. Beck walked over and reached for her shoulders, then pulled her into his arms. "Why can't I hate her? She gets me so worked up, she destroyed our life. She's a bitter, vindictive, hateful bitch, but I can't hate her."

"She's your sister, Jade. Family. I'd question if you did hate her." She sighed and let him guide her to the couch. "We will figure out how to get out of this hell we're in, and maybe once we do, we can save your sister from herself…"

* * *

So they're beginning to lose pivotal memories of their life from between the age of 15 and 30, and it looks like they're pretty much on their own. What are your thoughts towards everything here? Seems Holly does feel guilt over that ritual, but I guess she considers too difficult to pull away from her own life. Her selfishness is unfortunate.


	9. A Father's Concern

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:This story probably won't be among the lengthier ones of mine, just to let everyone know that may be worried about length.

* * *

Chapter 9 (A Father's Concern)

Beck made his way to his daughters' homes after receiving a text from Jade that seemed to worry him a tad. While she was off trying to find employment at whatever a fifteen year old could get-since a college degree was useless at this point-Beck was the only one to respond when she texted him that the girls thought there was someone hiding out in their bushes.

According to Jade's text, they were by themselves at the house since both parents were working.

He arrived to find the front lights off and the upper floor bedroom light on. Trina poked her head out the window, bending down a bit to show Tori standing behind her. She pointed out and to the right. "Near the back porch," she mouthed. He nodded and turned to see a pair of headlights in the distance.

The headlights flashed in his eyes for a moment, then shut off when the vehicle parked alongside the mailbox. It was a red truck with the letter F and numbers 150 on the back.

A well-built person stepped out, his brown eyebrows arched over his deep blue eyes. The man reached out and pointed to Beck. "Who're you?" He asked in a deep tone. Beck was somewhat taken aback, but not too startled. Since the girls were alone, they might have reached out to someone they knew.

"I'm Beck, and you are?"

"Trina's boyfriend." His heart stopped for a moment and he looked up to Trina's window in time to see her smiling down at the man. "She called me up saying someone was hiding out back."

"Well I'm a friend of theirs, they texted my girlfriend and she sent me over." Beck extended his hand, searching the man's eyes. The man had a larger build than he did, so he certainly didn't want to tumble with the guy. "Good to meet you."

"Jason." Jason shook his hand. The man's firm grip caught Beck by surprise, and he smiled faintly. Jason pulled his hand away and looked towards the back gate. "Trina said the guy's on the back porch. Only exit is that gate."

"Okay." He was content letting this man lead the way, and hoped to have more of a conversation with him later on, but there were more crucial matters at hand. So far he seemed to be a reasonable minded person, and it was admirable that he came to the girls' aid in such a timely manner.

"I'll go in first, and you guard the gate. If I don't catch the guy, then you grab him."

"Got it." Whoever was stalking his daughters was in for a hell of a night. Beck put his back to the fence and watched Jason calmly open the gate and enter. Jason crouched low and walked slowly towards the porch.

Beck folded his arms and leaned forward, peering past the gate as much as he could. It was difficult to see with how dark it was, but he could make out a faint image of the bushes moving along the house and passing Jason up.

Jason turned his head just as someone leapt out behind him. "Beck, he's making a run for it!" The figure hesitated for a split second, then shot past the gates. "Get him!"

"I'm a runner, he won't get far." He took off, swinging his arms through the air and making great strides. Back in the day he used to try and get involved in marathons, and would often ride a bike, so he had powerful legs.

Jason was soon behind him, maintaining a decent pace though not catching up as swiftly.

Before the stalker ended up at the corner of the street, Beck was upon him, tackling him to the ground. The boy was skinny and somewhat weightless. In Beck's anger, he flipped the boy over with as much force as he could and grabbed his shirt collar with tight, trembling hands.

His chest throbbed as he flared his nostrils and leaned down, but when he saw Robbie's eyes gazing back, the shock was paralyzing. "You?" He shouted aloud. "You're the one stalking them?"

Jason stepped alongside them and glared down at Robbie. "You know this guy, Beck?" Robbie whimpered and Beck dropped him onto the pavement.

Robbie screamed in pain and threw his hands to the back of his head while curling up. "Course, he's one of those kids we met a little while back. He befriended Tori and Trina." Hearing footsteps coming from behind, Beck turned and saw Trina running up.

She was wearing a purple tank and long black workout pants with a red stripe down them. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and her body was covered in sweat, signifying she was likely working out before they made the call.

Trina was a swift runner, which Beck took pride in seeing. "Who the hell is he?" Trina asked with quivering anger in her voice. "I would have kicked his ass beforehand, but Tori was freaked out, so I had to stay inside with her." Trina's eyes dropped to Robbie and her mouth twisted into a scowl. "You?!"

She yanked Robbie off the ground and shoved him up against a tree trunk. His eyes widened as she lifted him half an inch off the ground. "What the hell were you doing hiding outside our house, watching my sister? Huh?"

Beck walked beside Jason and crossed his arms, matching Jason's guarded posture while staring Robbie down. The terrified teen raised his trembling hands up and tried to speak, but only sniveling whimpers rushed from his mouth.

Seeing her taking control of the situation took the weight off his shoulders, and while he was still pissed at Robbie, he didn't want to go overboard with his anger. "So…" His eyes travelled to Jason. "I hear you and Trina have been kind of off and on. What's that about?"

"The on and off part really isn't frequent." Jason shrugged and glanced at him. "I've moved around often, and the first two times we separated because of the distance. I've been staying with my uncle nowadays and decided to attend UCLA, so I'm here to stay."

"I see." There was something oddly familiar about this man, but Beck couldn't make it out. Jason curled a finger over his chin and Beck could almost feel the man's inquisitive eyes searching him. "So the two of you met at camp?"

"Sort of, that's where we started a relationship. We met initially when she joined the karate studio downtown."

"Two of you are fairly serious, then?"

"Yes." Jason seemed to have little to say, or at least was very private about his personal life. This was good, it meant he wasn't a braggart when it came to relationships. "You look familiar, Beck…"

"Wouldn't know where you've seen me." Old photographs most likely, but only if he was somehow connected to Erwin.

"Yeah, I haven't seen you around the girls. How long have you known them?"

Beck unfolded his arms and pushed his hands into his pockets. "Just met." He looked back to Robbie and Trina, raising his eyebrows as Robbie took off running. Trina dusted off her shirt and walked towards the two.

Tori came running from behind, panting as she slowed her pace. "Who was it?" The girl asked. Trina pushed her hand through her hair and pulled away the tie holding her ponytail up.

"One of your oddball friends," Trina replied, "The one with the puppet." Tori scrunched her face and rolled her eyes. "I suppose he's harmless."

"Harmless?" Beck paced to the right, scoffing under his breath. He wanted to beat the kid senseless for spying on the girls, so he hardly considered it harmless. "He was spying on the two of you, that's hardly harmless."

"At least we know it's him." Tori shrugged and put her hands to her hips. "We know he's not going to try anything, he's just a little obsessive is all." She stepped beside her sister and wrapped an arm around Trina's. "Besides, if he tries anything, Trina can take care of him." Trina flashed a smirk and closed her eyes.

"Some boys can be intimidated by a girl that knows how to fight. Robbie's a bit squirrely, I'm not afraid of him."

Beck grinned and pride glistened in his eyes as he looked to his eldest daughter. Trina pat her sister's back and started heading back to the house with her. Jason glanced at him and chuckled once.

"Come on, let's keep the girls company for a bit until their dad gets home."

"Right."

Trina and her boyfriend disappeared upstairs, leaving Beck and Tori in the living room. While Tori prepared some sandwiches in the kitchen, Beck sat nervously on the couch and staring up at the ceiling.

The teenage couple left to work out, but he couldn't be sure if it was just working out or not. He knew what teenage hormones were like, and he knew just how much energy was built up from working out; he was no stranger to the act that followed when it came to relationships.

"What are you worrying about over there, Beck?" Tori pushed a sandwich into the microwave and looked at Beck with a curious smile. Beck leaned back into the couch and shrugged.

"Nothing." He draped his left elbow over the top and cupped his right hand over his right knee. He could almost hear the thumps vibrating from the second floor, and he was certain someone was shouting, but not aggressively.

Thinking back to his moments with Jade, she'd always been extremely loud in bed. If that pattern followed, he didn't need to question what was happening upstairs.

His stomach was in knots over this knowledge and he was mentally praying for the strength to not separate the two. After all, they probably were just working out.

Tori's eyes rose to the ceiling and her faint smile twisted wryly. "Oh don't worry about them. If they're being too loud, I can just go knock on their door and ask them to be quiet." His eyes enlarged and his heart began to tear through his chest. "I only wish I had a boyfriend devoted like that, last guy I dated was an ass."

"Oh?" He leaned forward, furrowing his brow as Tori made her way to the living room. "What happened with that?"

"Danny? He cheated on me." Her eyes fell and she moved her left hand over her right wrist. Sorrow swept over Beck's chest along with a wave of anger. This boy should consider himself lucky that he wasn't around when dating Tori.

"I'm sorry to hear that. It can't be easy to go through something like that."

"Thanks, but I'm alright." Tori sat beside him and leaned her head back on the couch. A heavy sigh left her lips and she slowly folded her hands on her stomach. "You know? I don't think the others like Trina."

"Why?" She raised her head and tucked a strand of hair over hear ear.

"I don't know. I was just thinking about what Andre said the other day." Beck's muscles tightened and he looked to the front door in an attempt to hide his stern expression. "I know he thinks she's crazy obsessive because of how she acts."

"How does she act?"

"Like she's trying too hard. It's all for show, she doesn't want people to take her seriously. Unless of course, times like tonight, but mostly she acts overboard so people don't notice her. I don't know why, really."

"Easy," someone said from behind. Tori flinched and Beck looked back to see Trina standing with a smirk plastered on her face. Jason was beside her, his right eyebrow arched high and his powerful arms were crossed along the middle of his chest. "That way people don't see me coming, little sis."

"Oh sorry." Tori jumped up from the couch and pushed her hair from her face while chuckling nervously. "I know you don't want me telling people that, I was just talking without thinking."

Trina dropped her hands to her hips and shook her head. "It's okay." She kissed Jason on the cheek and motioned to the door. "Could you show Jason out, Tori?"

Their shirts were neatly tucked into their pants, though loose around the chest area as they were drenched with sweat. Trina's hair was wet and up in a ponytail. Judging by this, Beck figured he may have been worried about nothing and working out was all that the pair had been doing. Adding to that, too little time had passed for anything more than working out.

"It was good to meet you sir," Jason responded with a casual smirk. Beck's eyebrows closed together and his lips parted briefly as Tori guided Jason out. Trina sat down beside Beck. She slid her fingers through her bangs and sighed heavily.

"It's our secret, Tori and myself, I would rather her not tell people certain details. So, can I trust you not to tell anyone what she just said?"

His concern poured from his heart and he slowly nodded, promising not to tell anyone. The only one he cared to talk to about anything was Jade, and since she was Trina's mother, he might not keep something _serious_ from her.

"Is everything okay? Why do you act obsessive?"

"To keep people from bothering me. If I act clingy, if I act obsessive and compulsive, people won't take me seriously and they'll leave me alone." Trina crossed her arms and looked towards the television with narrow eyes. "I only show people who I am that I want seeing who I am. There's a lot I don't need people to see, a lot I don't want people to see, and a lot I don't think people would like about me."

"Why? Why not be yourself?"

"Habit I guess. I'm a bit antisocial, have been ever since I was a little girl." Trina crossed her knees and stretched her arms out, closing her fingers around the front of her legs. "My mom calls it the 'shadow sister' syndrome, but I'm more than happy living in the shadow of my little sister." She laughed once and shut her eyes. "My boyfriend was the first person to see right through that. We were both loners, but now not so much as we used to be."

He smiled faintly and Trina looked at him with a curious expression. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, or why I'm comfortable with it."

"I guess I just have that effect on people…"

"Maybe. I'm not usually that trusting." The door opened and Tori walked in, smiled at the two, then made her way to the kitchen. Trina sucked in a mass of air and shook her head. "Tori told you and Jade about our parents? Our real ones?"

Beck pressed his lips together and nodded once as a slow tremor started in his fingers.

Trina hummed and looked towards the blank television. Several seconds of silence passed by them like clouds in the sky, moving slowly and only growing. Eventually the silence broke and Trina spoke up with a quiet, but shaky voice.

"I was there. I saw what happened to them. Nearly three years old, you'd think I would have forgotten, but that memory haunted me." Trina's body began to shake. Beck could feel his breathing start to quiver and his heart broke under his ribs.

"My dreams, nightmares, I never forgot." Trina pushed her hands through the sides of her head, and cleared her throat. "I carried that with me for so long, I never trusted anyone and never wanted to let anyone get close enough…I thought, if my mother's sister could do that to her own flesh and blood…"

Now he understood why Trina acted the way she did; she was afraid of letting people close enough to hurt her. Acting over obsessed with things was a defense mechanism for her.

"But you show Jason that side of you."

"Yes, and he's really helping with that, but still there are some people I just don't want bothering me. Namely some of Tori's friends." She crossed her arms and started to chuckle. "Robbie is a good start." Beck rolled his eyes and replied with a soft growl.

"That kid needs to learn some respect and manners." Trina agreed with a hum. Beck looked at her with a simple smile and pondered her position for a moment. "You know, you shouldn't have to hide who you are to people. You're into karate, right?"

"Yeah, Tae-Kwon-Do mostly. I've always been athletic-Aunt Holly says I get that from my dad." His lips pulled away, flashing a toothy grin. "Dad was a runner, a biker. I'm a runner just like he was. I'm athletic, and I love it. I love getting up and going for a jog in the morning, I love sparring matches with my boyfriend. It's who I am."

She squinted her eyes and rolled her head to the side. "Hollywood Arts. Of all the high schools in this area, they have the _best_ athletic department." The corners of her mouth slid up and her eyes flashed with joy. "I wanted so hard to get in that I actually got Uncle David to hire a vocal teacher for me so I could train my voice to sing for the enrolling audition."

"Yeah, and you got in. You should be proud."

"Oh I was proud, but most of them left the room prior to my audition. Mr. Sikowitz let me in without really giving me a chance to audition." Her smile faded and she shrugged. "I guess it was okay, I didn't know why he did that, but I was fine with it as long as I got to get in the athletic department."

"So why do you act like you can't sing?"

"She still has to attend the art department classes." Tori walked to the recliner, holding a sandwich and plate in her hands. Trina nodded and Beck frowned at his youngest. "So she acts obsessive, acts like she can't sing or dance, or even act, so the teachers won't put her in productions and force her to take time away from the athletic stuff she wants to focus on."

"So the showcase?"

"So glad I got out of that," Trina laughed. She hesitated for a minute and narrowed her eyes at Beck. "So, everything I just told you…that stays between us."

"Sure. I still think you shouldn't be afraid to let your finer qualities show."

"Maybe…I don't know."

"Might cause people to respect you a little more?"

"Like who? Robbie? Andre? What do I care for their opinion?"

"Yeah, well, I can't argue with you there." He folded his arms and took a deep breath. The muscles in his body started to relax and his eyes drifted towards his eldest. "You know, your real parents, I don't think they'd ever want you to feel like you have to hide who you are to people."

"Yeah." She laughed once and started to smile. "You sound like Mr. Sikowitz sounds sometimes." He jerked his head back and grunted in surprise. "He's always saying I shouldn't conceal that part of me. I guess, I save that part of myself for the people I willingly let get close enough to me. My sister, Jason…Now I don't even know why in the hell I opened up to you just now, but I guess hearing Tori talking about me to you…"

"Well, just so you know. If you ever need anyone to talk to that isn't either Sikowitz, Tori, Jason." He smiled and pat her wrist once. Her eyes fell to his hand and her fingers curled into her palm. "You can always talk to either Jade or myself."

"Jade doesn't seem like the type of person who would care about my circumstances, much less anyone else."

"Oh I don't know." He smirked and shrugged at her. "I think she might surprise you." It would be so easy to just come right out and tell her Jade was her mother.

Perhaps it would be more believable if they were forty-five years old and not the same age as Tori; and younger than Trina by about two years.

While pondering the circumstance, he was struck with a bout of curiosity. "An odd question for you, Katrina." Trina flinched and moved her head back a bit as Beck scratched his chin. "Do the two of you believe in magic, or rituals, or say witchcraft?"

Trina's eyes squinted and her shoulders fell. "I do. Tori not so much, but I do." Beck's lips curled up and he whisked his finger from his chin. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason, just a little curious that's all."

"Well I think it's evil. I know Aunt Holly used to practice, and from my nightmares, I just can't bring myself to think anything good of that sort of stuff. It sickens me."

"I can understand that."

"And I know Jason's uncle started to take an interest in it recently." Trina pushed herself up from the couch and started walking towards the kitchen. "I plead with him not to go near that stuff, especially since he said he doesn't know how any of it works."

"Is he still interested in it?"

"Last I checked?" She picked up a sandwich and raised it towards her lips. "No. He's pretty much burned everything a while ago, said he was done dabbling in it." She took a bite, chewed it for a few seconds, then swallowed. "Good. I'd hate to see what he'd end up doing, whether accidentally or intentional. God knows he might end up conjuring up the dead somehow…"

* * *

Hmm a lot has happened here in this chapter. What do you think of everything? What do you think about what Trina and Beck talked about? Looks like Robbie might think twice about his stalking. Also, as everything that is said is important, any thoughts towards the boyfriend's uncle? I'd like to also point you to the possibility of what if Beck and Jade didn't go forward in time?


	10. Poker Night

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: Short chapter for you, so it gets put up now XD

* * *

Chapter 10 (Poker Night)

Jade felt the icy glare of her sister upon her as she sat amongst Tori's friends at the table. She attempted to focus her attention on the cards in her hands while playing poker with the others, but was distracted by thoughts of what her sister might be scheming.

"I think you need to lie down," David said to his wife. Jade's eyes squinted and slid to the corners of her sockets. "You're worrying too much about a small coincidence."

"Do you take me for an idiot?" Holly asked. "It's no coincidence. Same names, same appearance, and I spoke with them already. I think I know my sister." Jade rolled her eyes and started to smirk. If David didn't believe his own wife, then maybe that was an advantage. Holly was on her own. "I'm not crazy, David."

 _"That's up for debate,"_ Jade thought. She felt someone nudge her side and glanced to see Beck pointing to the three cards on the table. "Oh, I check." Beck nodded and tapped the table twice, signaling Andre to flip the next card. "So Cat, have you heard anything more from your grandmother about that house?"

"Not really," Cat replied. Tori's eyes darted over and the girl shifted uncomfortably in her chair. Jade caught the movement and for the moment she was sorry to bring up the home. By now the sisters likely knew what home Cat and the others had gone to, so she wanted to speak as little as possible about it around them. "You are oddly curious about it."

Tori raised her cards in front of her face, mumbling into them. "Seems like somebody's living there now." Jade flinched and Beck turned his attention to their daughter. "I saw you guys when you visited that place, I didn't say anything about it."

"You saw us?"

"I go by that house a lot. I have since I was a kid. I was watching the house when you showed up. Figured you were just interested in abandoned homes." Tori lowered the cards, revealing a discouraging frown. "Last time I went by, it was fixed up like someone was living there now."

"I imagine it's still owned by the family." Jade dropped the cards to her lap and folded her hand over them. She didn't have to ask why Tori went by the house so frequently, especially if the girl felt a connection to it or knew it was where her own family lived. "It was just something we were curious to see."

Tori likely felt the group had been intruding into her family home, even though she didn't live there any longer. "Why do you go by it so much?" Andre inquired. "It was just an old beat up home."

"I don't know." A husky breath rolled from Tori's lips and she averted her gaze. "Guess I've been fascinated with abandoned places." Andre smiled faintly and reached his hand over to the girl's shoulder.

"We could probably go back if you wanted. Check it out. If someone is living there, maybe they'll let us see the place again?"

Jade stifled a laugh and raised her cards up to shield her grin from the rest. There was zero chance that she'd ever let them into the house. Especially since it might freak certain people out.

Beck moved back slowly, sliding his hand across the table and turning a chilling glare onto Andre. "I don't Andre. Whoever's living in that house might not want to let you or Robbie back in if they knew you two were thinking of stealing from them."

Jade reached for his knee. Her eyelids fell halfway and she gazed at her husband with concern. "Honey…not now." She knew he didn't like either of the boys, but he had to stop getting so irritated. They didn't know who he was and wouldn't understand why he was so angry with them.

She was angry at them as well, especially after hearing Robbie was the one stalking Tori outside the home, but she had to do her best to hold back. Beck needed to do the same.

Jade was worried about him and how he was coping with everything. She knew he was taking it harder than he was admitting, he couldn't be calm under extreme pressure like this, especially not when she was freaking out as much as she was.

Beck looked beyond her and at the older couple standing nearby. "How come they haven't thrown us out yet?" He whispered. "You'd think your sister would-"

"She knows these are our kids." Holly seemed to have enough grace and concern to let Jade spend time with her children whether she liked it or not. Who was she to complain? "She probably feels some guilt for the last fifteen years."

"Maybe…"

Jade peered at the cards on the table, then the ones in her hand. "I fold." She held out as long as possible, but the cards she had couldn't win anything. Beck flashed a toothy grin and pushed forward a chip worth $100.

"I raise the bet." The others started to groan, but Jade simply smirked with pride. Back in the day when Beck and Erwin weren't cruising the town-or picking up chicks as they did before she came along-they would play a number of card games.

It wasn't so much luck as it was he knew how to read people and piece together the strategies that helped him to see what others may possibly have. "Confident there, Beck?" Tori smirked at him and called his bet. "You guys really should play with my sister, she's really good at poker. She used to play solitaire all the time when she was a kid…collected pokemon cards all the time too."

"Fascinating. I collected baseball cards when I was a kid." Beck crossed his arms and furrowed his brow. "I wonder what they're worth now."

"Assuming you still have them," Jade replied in a casual tone. She remembered his baseball card collection; he had several rare cards that would likely be worth a good amount in this day and age, but she hadn't seen them in a long time.

"You don't remember, Jade?" She shook her head and he started to sigh. "I sold them. I sold a lot of them and gave the rest to mom so she could put them in a safety deposit box."

Her mouth formed an oval and she brought her hand to her head. "Oh. I can't believe I forgot about that." He'd sold a good handful of them to help pay for their wedding, since he didn't want their parents paying for everything.

"Well dear, we _have_ been forgetting a lot of things lately…"

Andre hunched himself forward and stared at the pair with slanted eyes. "Geez you two talk like a married couple." Jade opened her mouth, wanting to tell him to shut up, but held back and shook her head. "An old, married couple."

She heard her sister chortle and shot a glare at the woman. She turned her eyes back to Andre, shifting herself in her chair and holding her burning glare until he turned away. "So Andre. Are you calling us old?" Andre raised his hands up as though defending himself from an attack.

"No, I'm just saying it's different. Nice, even. I mean hell, you guys talk like you're extremely close-as though you've been together for ages." He lowered his hands with a sigh. "I'd be lucky if I could even talk on a dating level with girls I go out with, but they hardly even last more than a few days."

"Well." Beck flashed an icy smirk and his eyelids sank halfway. "Maybe if you were more respectful towards women, your dates would actually last longer than they do." Andre frowned and Robbie let out a mocking laugh while slapping the man on the shoulder. "Oh you're not in the clear either, Robert…"

Robbie cringed and appeared to sink in the chair. Jade would be less irritated with him if not for the whole stalking bit, but she wasn't going to try and tell Tori not to be friends with the man.

After all, Tori could legitimately tell her with full belief and confidence that she 'wasn't her mother'. Jade was in no position to tell her daughter what to do, and she knew it.

"Dude." Andre crossed his arms and his brow started to furrow. "Are you still bent up over me calling Trina crazy? I don't get it, she's not even your girlfriend, man."

Holly's eyes darted over and Jade watched the woman place a hand over David's leg, causing him to raise his head and turn his attention to the game. "It has nothing to do with who my girlfriend is." His chair scraped against the tiled floor as he pushed back with his foot. "It has to do with your attitude towards women in general. It's disrespectful, demeaning, derogatory, and all around hateful. Immature. Your parents did a poor job teaching you manners."

"Excuse me?" Andre scoffed and brought his hand up to his chest. "I do not have a problem with women." Holly started pounding her palm against David's leg, and a worried expression came over her. Jade sensed the woman's anxiety as she was nervous herself, it didn't take much to see where this was leading, but she didn't know how to defuse the situation.

"Boys let's not argue right now," she said in an attempt to distract them from the conversation.

"If you knew anything about women…" Andre stood from his chair and glared into Beck's eyes. "You'd know not to disrespect your woman by caring more about whether or not another girl's been disrespected."

Beck cleared his throat and started to stand. He closed his eyes and took a slow and calm breath. "Jade understands. You have very little idea what you're talking about and who you're talking to." Jade clenched her eyes and brought her hand to her forehead, groaning softly.

"Oh yeah?" Andre crossed his arms and started to laugh. "Look man, I meant no disrespect. Hey Trina's attractive and all, okay? I mean she might be crazy, but at least she's fuckable right?" Her heart stopped and Andre froze, realizing what he just said. David tensed and Holly's eyes expanded. "I didn't mean that! It slipped out."

Beck pushed his cheek out with his tongue and looked down at his chair. He whistled softly while sliding his fingers along the top. "Well Andre." Jade felt a rush of anger shooting through her veins, but she didn't need to act on it as it was already too late to keep Beck from acting.

"Andre," she spoke with a calm and trembling tone. Her chest and shoulders rose and her head twisted around as he peered at her. "You have less than five seconds to start running for that door."

It came fast and it came hard, but within seconds Andre was on the ground cradling his face from Beck's powerful right hook. Jade rose and put her hands to Beck's chest, holding him back as he tried to lunge for Andre.

The others at the table rose, but each stood like statues, watching as Andre looked up in horror.

David came next, picking Andre off the ground and shoving him into the counter. The boy screamed out in pain and tried profusely to apologize as the man locked his wrists behind his back.

"You're leaving my home now," David said with a growl. "Before my wife decides to handle you herself, and believe me, she's a lot scarier than I am."

"I didn't mean it!" Andre cried out as David opened the door and pushed him to the doorway. More shocking was when he took a step back and kicked his foot into Andre's back, forcing the boy to stumble and fall off the front porch.

Tori pulled her hands over her mouth and searched the room with frantic eyes as a sudden hush fell over everyone. David turned around and pointed to Robbie.

"You can go as well." Robbie gasped out and David jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "I've held my tongue when I heard you were hiding in my back yard the other night, but it's clear you and the other boy are causing some friction here. So get out of my house, before anything _else_ happens tonight." His tone was threatening and venom seemed to drip from his lips as his sharp glare cut into the puppet holder.

"Yes sir!" Robbie rushed out of the room and David glanced at the others, huffing angrily.

"Poker night is over. Go home."

* * *

Well, thoughts?


	11. Sisterly Connection

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 11 (Sister Connection)

Jade played with her thumbs in her lap while sitting on the couch in the Holly's living room. Her sister was beside her, staring at her with a silent and suspicious expression.

She looked over her right shoulder, staring at the closed door into David's study. "What do you think they're talking about?" The question was almost a rhetorical one; David stopped them from leaving and ushered Beck into the study just after the fight with Andre, there was no doubt in her mind it had to do with that situation.

"First I've seen your husband get so angry," Holly said in a quiet tone. The woman pushed her hands down her thighs and exhaled. "Not that I blame him or don't understand, I was close to doing the same."

"So was I, but I could see Beck getting hot under the collar." She crossed her arms and slanted her eyes. "What do you expect, though? He's a father who just saw his little girl go from infant to teenager in the blink of an eye."

"I know." Jade rolled her eyes and shook her head. Her right foot bounced in the air as she tensed her muscles. "Jade…I don't know how you and your husband are here. Time magic is something that only high powered practitioners have access to."

"I'm less focused with how we got here and how to get back."

"What if you can't? What if you're stuck like this?"

Her heart was clutched by fear the moment those words hit her ears. Though softly said they felt like an explosion ripping off directly beside her. "I'd not thought of that…" If she had, it was only brief. She hunched forward and raised her clasped hands to her chin. "I-You'd let us be near our daughters at least?"

"Yeah. I mean, at the very least you're a part of their lives, even if they don't realize it." While pondering what this woman's motives were, Jade couldn't help but to feel something was amiss with her sister. At first she thought Holly would have fought to keep them away from their daughters, but now it seemed like their presence wasn't a true issue.

"What would you have done if your ritual didn't go wrong?" She lowered her hands and watched with a heavy heart as her sister closed her eyes and drew a long exhale. "Holly? If David didn't mess up."

"I don't know." Holly ran her hand through her hair and looked up towards the ceiling. "I thought about it for years, thinking 'I just killed my little sister'. I wonder if the anger would have passed and I would have woken you up at some point."

"Are you still angry?"

Holly fell quiet and looked into Jade's eyes. The woman's brow furrowed and the corners of her mouth embedded themselves into her cheeks as her frown lines grew deep and noticeable.

"No," she said finally, "No that went away when you and Beck exploded in front of me." Her heart sank and she moved back into the couch, sighing as her arms fell over her abdomen. "You know, at first, David wanted me to give up the girls. At first he was worried I wouldn't be able to take care of them, but I knew you probably would have killed me if gave them up."

Horror flashed in her for a moment and a gasp fell from her lips. The thought of her children going into an adoption center or anywhere out of the family was too much for her to bear. "Probably. So it's a good thing you decided to take care of them."

"Even if I hadn't, dad would have taken them in. He thought about it, but felt it would be better if they had both a mother figure and a father figure."

"I agree. I would prefer my daughters have some semblance of a normal life." Her chest started to ache and her eyes began to sting. Jade looked at her lap for several seconds, gently tapping her fingertips together. "I…I appreciate you raising them, giving them that chance for a normal life."

She couldn't help but to wonder if the custody issue ever came up; it likely did. She and Beck discussed when their first child was born that her sister would be the one to take care of their children if something ever happened to them, and they named her as guardian in their will, so the kids would have gone to Holly regardless.

"I understand you were upset with me Holly, and I know what you did was just anger in the moment, and you couldn't have known what the results were going to be." Her voice was shattering to hear and she could hardly breathe while gasping to hold back her tears. "I want to forgive you, but I'm too angry with you to even think of forgiveness right now."

"I know."

"I want to hate you, but I can't do that either."

Holly bowed her head. She gently clutched the bottom of her shirt, squeezing it between her fingers. "I-" Jade looked to her sister, watching the woman's face twist with pain and stress. "I never hated you, Jade. I just wanted you to leave me alone. I was jealous, I was angry and tired of living in the shadow."

Holly raised her head up, gasping aloud as fresh tears streamed down her cheeks. "You had everything: A husband, two beautiful children, a bachelor's degree in Music and a master's in education." Jade's stomach filled with emptiness as a note of sorrow shook through her body. She could feel the pain in Holly's voice, and no longer could she hear anger within.

Holly scoffed and smacked the air with her hand. "Your husband was a teacher, looking for work as a principal somewhere. You had a _fantastic life."_ Jade curled her lips into a faint smile and raised her eyes up to her sibling. Holly pushed ah and through her hair. "You know Erwin? Beck's friend? I haven't talked to him much, though Trina is dating his nephew."

"What?" She jerked back sharply, but shook the thought away and cut Holly off before she could explain. "Nevermind that, continue with what you were saying."

"Well, Erwin partly owns Hollywood Arts. The whole idea for that school was a brainstorm between him and your husband so long ago." She squinted while thinking back. She remembered Beck mentioning the possibility of a school like Hollywood Arts, but it wasn't something he cared to achieve, just something he and Sikowitz came up with for laughs.

"I think it was something they were joking about over beer."

"Well either way, when you and Beck died, Erwin spent years coming up with the concept-a way to remember the two of you." Jade brought her hand up to her chest and inhaled as tears dripped from the corners of her eyes. "And well, he finally found someone back in 2004, 2005 that was willing to put his blueprint into action. Hollywood Arts opened up in late 2006."

"I'm impressed." It was nice that Erwin would do that, but it did make her wonder just how much he missed the pair. Had he never moved on? From what Beck mentioned to her about Jason's 'uncle' briefly gaining an interest in witchcraft, she now wondered if Erwin might have tried to do something. "Did he ever get over what happened to us? I know it must have been pretty hard."

Holly's shoulders rose and she slowly shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I've seen him going by your old home many times over the years. Sometimes he'd just be standing on the front lawn, tears in his eyes and his hands would be closed so tightly that I was always afraid to go up to him. Maybe he blamed himself, I don't know why."

"Simple." She shrugged. "He invited us to a Christmas party that day, but we turned him down. He probably thought it was something to do with him, but it wasn't. We stayed because you wanted to come visit…"

Holly curled her fingers around her bangs and pulled them away from her eyes. "Back then I never thought about the effect my ritual would have on anyone else. My nieces, our father, Beck's family…Erwin, coworkers, friends. None of it mattered at the time, save for the anger I had."

"Was I wrong, though?"

"Wrong?" Holly thought about it for a minute, tapping her index finger on her chin and squinting her eyes. "No. No you were right. I was just so angry that you-someone that had all these great things you were into-telling me to stop doing the one thing I had any interest in…I was blind to the consequences, until I saw my own sister die because of it."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "We're not dead." Holly glanced at her for a few minutes, then looked away.

"I thought you were. For the longest time I couldn't stop telling myself that I killed my sister. I was a murderer as far as I was concerned, so the least I could do was give your daughters a normal life…as if that would make up for what I did."

Jade remained silent, trying to piece together everything she was hearing. It was hard to hear, and much harder to swallow than if Holly had hated her. Knowing Holly was only acting out of anger and not hatred wasn't easy for her to cope with.

If anything, it only meant she couldn't hate her sister back.

"Hey Holly?"

Holly wiped her eyes with the end of her shirt sleeve and her sniffing echoed in the air. "What?" She had to approach the subject carefully because she was unsure how her sibling would react, but she needed to know if the main issue they had all those years back was still in play.

"Whatever happened to Gary?"

Holly's face went blank and her mouth shut like a trap. A lump swelled in Jade's throat and she raised a trembling hand over her mouth as Holly averted her gaze.

"He's still 'alive', I guess. I can't get rid of him, so he's David's partner at work."

She sank in the couch and threw her hand over her forehead while emitting a mournful groan. "Oh Holly, no…" Gary Malone had been a friend of David's and Holly's, having met both of them in college.

In 1995, the two dated for several months until he discovered Holly was into witchcraft and the like. She was in the middle of learning a spell for youth, but it went wrong when he walked into the room and nearly died as a result.

What transpired after that was Holly using her spells to try and save Gary's life. She transferred a part of her soul into his, which connected her to him. This was the big secret that Holly told Jade about, and what Beck ended up telling Sikowitz, who blabbed it to a few coworkers that wanted to go after Holly for witchcraft.

"He's nothing but a puppet now," Holly responded with a shattering breath. "He doesn't have a soul, and he's forever connected to me." The woman whisked her hand into the air, huffing out angrily. "I didn't realize the spell that I used on him was essentially only going to keep him alive as some sort of zombie or whatever. It would have been better if I just…let him go…"

"You don't know how?"

"No. I don't. David talked about maybe shooting the guy, but I can't bring myself to do that. Even if killing him would be merciful, I don't want to have to live with another death on my hands."

She furrowed her brow and looked away with a sigh of disappointment. "You might not have a choice."

"The girls think I'm having an affair with him, you know." Jade whistled and Holly rolled her head towards her. "You know how that would look if David shot him?"

"Not good." She tried to think of something that could be done; but there was nothing. "I don't know anything about magic, or curses, or rituals or anything of the sort…but I do know someone that does. Or, I don't know them personally. Cat's grandmother."

"Cat?" Holly tilted her head and squinted her eyes. Her eyebrows closed together and her mouth seemed to shrink.

"Yeah, the red haired girl?"

"Oh!"

"Maybe she knows how to help Gary? You have to release him somehow." Jade crossed her arms and shrugged. "Who knew it was so easy to keep the dead alive with those rituals."

"Sis, an idiot could raise the dead even if they don't know what they're doing." Holly waved her hand in a circle and relaxed in the seat. "Take puppet spell, for instance. All you have to do is collect the ashes or the remains of the deceased you want to revive, say the ritual spell, and boom you've connected what you hope-if you've done it right-the spirit of the deceased to their body."

"You've never done that?"

"I wouldn't. The consequences of doing something like that…I don't know. You've essentially trapped the memories or soul of a person to a corpse, over time that soul is going to become so irreparably damaged that they'll just go insane."

It sounded like the spell, or a variation of one, that was used on Gary. "You know, it sounds like what happened to Malone." Holly raised an eyebrow and began shuddering as she brought her fingers to her forehead.

"God it probably was. There are so many different variations, so many ways to work with the dead and with corpses. All an idiot has to do is pick one and do it. Of course, if you're not careful, you risk attaching a demon to the corpse or yourself."

She didn't have much time to think on it as David and Beck announced themselves as they reentered the room. She jumped from the couch and ran to her husband, throwing her arms around him. "Everything okay?" She asked. He smiled back and nodded.

"Yeah, Dave just wanted to make sure I was who Holly thought. Evidently he still didn't know whether to take her ritual stuff seriously or not. He thought we were dead."

"So did Holly."

Holly walked up behind her, putting her hands to her hips and narrowing her eyes. "You guys have been gone for fifteen damn years. You think we're not going to believe you to be dead?"

"She's right," David muttered, "I'm still trying to come to terms with you both actually being here." The man looked up and pointed to Holly. "Did you do anything?"

"Of course not, David. I haven't touched a spellbook in ages. I don't know how they're here, or why…"

* * *

So what are your thoughts reading this?


	12. Suspicions

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 12 (Suspicion)

"He's not so bad," Beck said of David after making his way to their home where Jade had decided to stay. "David and I discussed how things have been going with the girls, and at first he wanted to know if we were going to be like vengeful spirits or something." He chuckled at the thought and smirked as Jade pushed open the door.

"Vengeful? No, certainly not. Angry, yes, but not vengeful. It's hard to be angry at them for raising our daughters-that's what we wanted, anyway. For my sister to raise our kids if something happened to us."

"Yeah, well he also wanted to talk to me about something else." They moved into the kitchen and Beck grabbed an orange from the fruit basket on the counter. "They're going to Santa Barbara on Friday, he and Holly, and Trina is getting her wisdom teeth out." Jade opened the refrigerator door and hummed thoughtfully as she reached inside. "He has Tori looking after her, but he said it might be a good chance for their parents to spend some time with them as well."

Jade froze with a tupperware container in her hand and glanced over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear. "Oh I would love to." Her smile faded and her lips began to purse. "Oh but Cat was insistent on doing something with me that night, though, and I was going to use that as an opportunity to get some insight on her grandma."

She walked to the counter and set the container down. "I could cancel on her and be with you and the girls." Beck started to peel the orange, focusing a curious gaze on it as thoughts ran through his mind. "I've spent a lot of time with them lately though. You're their father, so maybe you should get a chance to spend some time with them."

"Yeah, and we don't know how much time we have left. You shouldn't cancel out on the one thing that might help us." He walked around to the edge of the counter and gently tossed the orange peel into the trash. "At least we know Robbie's going to be dealing with some girls from another school."

Jade pulled the Tupperware lid off with a pop and looked up, flashing a smirk at him. "You honestly don't like Robbie much, do you?"

"No. No I do not." He raised the orange to his lips and bit into it, delighting in the sweet juices that graced his tongue. He swallowed and whisked the fruit away with a grunt. "Don't care much for Andre either."

"Whatever will you do once we get back to where we're supposed to be, then fifteen years later, Tori's friends with all of these people again?" She planted her palms on the counter, leaned forward and flashed a slow-growing smirk. Beck felt his heart jolt to a stop and he contemplated the possibility.

Anything was possible, and he'd always been a believer in fate or destiny-if something was meant to happen, it would. If Tori was meant to befriend Andre, Robbie and Cat, then it would happen.

"Cry."

On the plus side, if Trina was meant to run into Jason, then she would. He didn't mind that as much since he actually liked the kid.

"I'm curious how likely it is they'd meet though. If Erwin brought our drunken idea for an arts based school forward because of our 'deaths', and we manage to reverse whatever it is that happened to us…wouldn't that mean Hollywood Arts would not come to pass?"

"It could." She shrugged and began spooning the pasta from the container into a bowl. "But at the very least we know Hollywood Arts comes to pass, there's no stopping you from convincing Erwin to bring that idea to fruition. Maybe you could make it even better." Her eyebrows rose. "You were on your way to being hired as a principal somewhere, you might be principal of Hollywood Arts."

A wave of pride struck him and he tugged on his shirt collar while beaming with pride. "Well certainly." It was Sherwood that was going to hire him as principal, but he could see him working for Hollywood Arts. "You could certainly be a music teacher there as well. If you wanted to."

"I don't know. Maybe when our girls graduate and move out of the house. You know I want to raise our girls, I don't want to be working and not be there for them." Beck's lips flattened together and he nodded with understanding.

He hated to admit, he and David talked about the repercussions of two working parents, and it wasn't good. While Trina and Tori were given a good home life with two parents, they often felt neglected because neither David and Holly were around in times they needed them most.

"Holly's always away at the hospital and David is always on call." He crossed his arms and watched Jade peer blankly at the bowl of stew. "You might be right, Jade. One parent ought to be there for the kids."

"It's not like we have to give them a big mansion with gilded walls and twenty cars. Just a loving family, a mom and a dad, and people that care about them. I don't want them to feel alone because we're never there due to our jobs."

"Fair enough."

Jade pushed the bowl into the microwave and sighed while entering the time. "I was talking to Cat a little bit ago, asking her to get her grandmother's input on the whole fading memories thing. She's getting suspicious, but that's about it."

"Oh. Well, what did the grandma say?"

"The more we attach ourselves to crucial and important parts of our lives, the slower and harder it is to lose those memories." She pushed her hands through her hair and turned towards him. "Like spending our time here in this house, keeping the ash in that jar, it helps us to constantly be thinking about the things that have happened so that we continue to remember…spending time with our daughters, god forbid we ever forget them, helps us to never forget."

"So you're saying, if it draws an emotional reaction from us and triggers our memories, we won't forget it so suddenly?"

"Right…"

"Thank god." Relief washed over his shoulders and poured from his heart, drawing a smile to his face. "I don't know what I would do if we lost that part of our lives." He leaned over the counter, sliding his hands along the smooth surface, and looked sideways at the dining table nearby. "I was worried about you at first, wanting to fix this place up and stay here, but I understand why now."

"This was our first home. This was where we were going to raise the girls, where we were going to retire and spend the rest of our lives." Her voice trembled and tugged at Beck's heartstrings. His eyes closed and he breathed in as the memories of the house started to come to mind. "This is where we conceived our children, where we were made so many memories…a place this important? How could I _not_ want to stay here?"

"I love this place too, and you're right, it's also probably the best place we can be right now."

When Friday came around, Beck joined Jade and the others at the Karaoke bar that she and Cat were going to attend before going over to check on Tori and Trina. Before leaving, he worried about Jade, since one of the girls at the Karaoke place made a vain attempt at flirting with him.

While he did not react, Jade approached the girl from behind and had a look in her eyes as though she were ready to murder the woman. The competition wound up becoming a fight between schools, and then a contest ensued between them.

Before long they were on their way to the Vega home in an unexpected turn of events where Jade and Cat wanted to get Tori to sing, which left Beck to stay and look after Trina.

Much to his dismay, Robbie and Andre stuck around as well as the girls took off.

Tori looked exhausted as it was from looking after Trina, who was already in a lot of pain from surgery and drowsy. It looked like she was still sedated. "Why is she tied?" Beck raised an eyebrow as Robbie and Andre moved to untie the ropes.

Tori sighed heavily and closed her eyes. "She's a fighter when she's affected like she is. I had to do it or else she'd probably kick my ass and not realize it."

"Okay." He walked up and pushed Andre and Robbie back. "We'll deal with this." By the time they untied the struggling teenager and helped her over to the couch, the girls were gone.

He made a mental note of the person that owned the karaoke bar, and part of him wanted to ensure the guy never owned that bar once he got back to their proper time.

After about an hour Trina had calmed down. Andre and Robbie were covered in bruises and blood from having tried to keep the girl under control. He felt bad about letting her beat them up, but at the same time he was amused and amazed to see how good her martial arts skills were.

The boys went to wash up while Beck sat beside Trina on the couch. He noticed a calm look in her eyes and observed her replacing a piece of gauze on her own. "I know I'm giving them a hard time," she said between her mumbles, "I have my reasons."

"You're not completely out of it, are you." He smirked with pride and she shook her head.

"Well, I do go crazy anytime someone gets close to my mouth, but that's a personal thing…I don't like it." She took a deep breath and started to tense her forehead and hands. Beck jerked his head back and raised an eyebrow.

"Sensitive subject?"

"Yes."

"I-" His voice started to break but he covered it up by clearing his throat. "I'm sorry to hear that." Trina tossed the bloodied gauze in the trash and rubbed her hands vigorously through her hair.

"As for Andre and Robbie? I heard what Andre said about me the other day-I was sitting on the stairs, watching the poker game. I heard everything." He cupped a hand over his mouth and winced. "Robbie? Well, that should be obvious."

"The stalking?"

"Yeah." Trina grabbed a roll of gauze and raised her eyebrows. "And I know I shouldn't just beat people up like that. I know it's wrong, and Jason has always told me 'you're not supposed to use martial arts to fight but to defend yourself or someone else', so please don't lecture me."

He swallowed the urge and crossed his arms, forming a smirk as his eyelids fell halfway. "What makes you think I might lecture you on how and why it is wrong to be aggressive?" She turned her head and formed a wry smile of her own.

"Call it a feeling. Maybe next time Tori and I visit our grandad, we'll bring back his old photo albums and show you some pictures of our family." His lips separated and Trina stood up. "By the way, call Jason and see if he wants to come over. I'd feel more comfortable with my boyfriend here."

"O-Okay." She put the gauze in her mouth and looked crazily at Andre and Robbie as they entered the room. The two boys were paralyzed by her wide glare. "Trina…"

"Oh don't worry, I'm only going to scare them…"

"Great." He picked up his phone, sighing with defeat as Trina roared and rushed towards the two men. "Whatever would your mother say?"

Later that evening while everyone was settling down in their homes, and the pain from Trina's surgery was wearing off, Tori dragged her off to their old childhood home. "You see?" Tori pointed at the newly fixed home with the lights on in the windows. "I told you someone was living there now."

Trina rolled her eyes and stepped onto the lawn, fighting back the memories of the nightmares that were popping up recently after about three years. "What do we care if someone lives here?"

"Maybe they'll let us inside?" Trina froze, paralyzed by Tori's words. Her hands began to tremble and she turned a steady gaze over her shoulder. Tori shrugged and smiled faintly. "I've always wanted to see the inside of the house I was born in."

"We weren't born _in_ the house, we were in a hospital."

"You know what I mean!"

"Yeah, yeah, but why do we want to do that?"

"I'm curious."

The wind howled above the silence and her defeated sigh soon joined it. "Fine." She approached one of the lit windows and put her hands on the glass to peer in.

Inside was the living room. The television was on, and the lamps on either side of the couch cast an amber glow. When she saw Beck and Jade huddled together on the couch with a blanket wrapped around them, her chest tightened and she stumbled backwards, nearly falling over.

"What is it?" Tori asked while approaching the window. Trina raced over, grabbing her sister away before she could look.

"Nothing." She pulled Tori towards their car, looking frantically over her shoulders as her heart burst in erratic beats. "We need to go. Now." She rolled her eyes and growled as Mr. Sikowitz came to mind. "Never come here again, Tori."

"What? Why?"

"Never!"

There was no doubt, she and Jason were going to be having a long talk with the man. She'd only suspected, but she didn't think she'd be right-nor did she want to be right.

"Tori," she said once she was in the driver's seat. Tori's brow furrowed she looked over nervously as Trina shifted the shift into drive. "There's a possibility Beck and Jade are going to need help. That said, we need to pay my boyfriend and his uncle a visit." She pointed to Tori's purse, instructing her to call Cat.

"Why?"

Her stomach twisted into knots and her eyes travelled back to the house as a numb and empty sensation came over her. "I have a feeling Cat may not be as crazy as I thought."'

* * *

Well what are your thoughts? Observations? Next chapter we meet Nona, and we see the process and explanation of what's going on and what to do


	13. The True Horror

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N: Here's the chapter that makes me wish I had thought of this idea at the start of October...big reveal coming that answers the question, did they _really_ go forward in time?

* * *

Chapter 13 (The True Horror)

Jade rolled over in the bed, groaning softly as an echoing bang stirred in her mind and ears. Beck's arm was over her waist while he spooned her. She felt safe in his arms, and secure.

In her mind she could see him beginning to slip away from her. She still remembered so much about the many important days of her life: her daughters being born, her wedding; but those memories were among the last ones she could feel, and they were fading quickly.

She didn't want to worry him, but aside from the aforementioned memories, she was finding it harder to remember anything beyond her fifteenth Christmas

The banging echoed again and she felt Beck's weight shifting on the bed. His arm tightened around her stomach and his lips brushed against her neck. "Honey, do you hear that?" He whispered. "Or is it just me?"

Her eyes opened partially as the banging grew louder. "I hear something." She looked at the bedroom window and noticed a shadow moving outside. Her eyes shot open and she jumped up as a jolt of fear gripped her throat, rendering it impossible for her to scream.

Beck sat up behind her. "What is-" The figure outside began to pound on the window, creating an earthshattering bang that vibrated off the walls. "Shit, wait here." He flung the covers off and rushed out of the bedroom, grabbing a bat along the way.

Sensing possible danger, and not wanting to wait in the bedroom if there was an intruder outside, Jade bolted from the bed and followed her husband out. As she began to wake more, she could hear her doorbell chiming repeatedly. At first she thought it was just a part of some dream while she was sleeping.

Jade flipped the houselights on and Beck slammed his hand onto his forehead. "Damn it, Jade." The banging ceased and the doorbell continued to chime. Jade walked out, still in her blue, white-dotted nightgown and curved her hands over Beck's shoulders.

"Someone's at the door. I think whoever's outside is just trying to get our attention." She glanced nervously at the phone on the table. "Should we call David?" Beck rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on the baseball bat.

"It's past midnight, your brother-in-law is going to be asleep."

"Do you want me to call the police, then?"

Just then a rapping on the window caught her attention. "Mom, dad, let us in!" It was Tori's voice. A gasp fell from her lips and the next bang came from the baseball bat falling from Beck's hands. "Please, hurry, we need you to let us in."

"Don't just stand there," she yelled while rushing to the door as if someone were shooting at her heels. She unlocked the door and yanked it open, freezing in shock at what she saw. "They're not alone."

Trina and Tori were standing with Jason, Erwin, Cat, and an older woman with a long flannel robe and curly auburn hair. "Finally," the older woman growled, "I'm Nona Albright. We've been trying to get your attention for the last half hour, and we certainly weren't going to bust our way in."

Jade stammered as the woman waved her hands into the air and walked into the house, leading the others inside. Beck looked like a deer caught in headlights as the woman narrowed her eyes and looked around the house, shushing anyone that might speak up.

"Darling." Nona motioned to Cat and pointed at the couch. "Be a dear and move that, would you?" Cat did as instructed and rushed over to the couch with Tori and Jason, pulling it away. The elder's eyes opened wide and her lips separated to release a rush of air as she saw the stain on the floor. "Ah there it is."

Nona's arm swayed through the air and her fingers touched to her chin. "Now I see the blast marking on the floor, but I see no ash or residue." Just then Trina walked to the fireplace and grabbed the jar of ash.

"I think this might be it, ma'am."

Jade and Beck exchanged confused expressions, with him shrugging and shaking his head. "Um I'm sorry…" Jade cleared her throat and walked towards Nona. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Simple. I'm correcting an idiot's mistake." Jade raised an eyebrow and out of the corner of her eyes she saw Erwin's head fall guiltily. His hands closed up and he averted his eyes as Nona's sharpened glare fell onto him. "The dabbler here didn't have the slightest idea what he was doing."

"I was desperate," Erwin muttered.

"Dabbler." Nona smacked his head and he jumped back, shouting out in pain. "What did you do, pick the first corpse spell you saw and go with that? You had no idea what was going on, did you."

At a loss for words, Jade fell back onto her couch and brought her hand to her chest. Beck walked over to her, gazing at Erwin with a suspicious eye. "D-Did you do something, Erwin?" Erwin looked away from his best friend and slowly ran his hand over his neck. Tears filled the man's eyes, but all that he could say came out in wavering breaths.

Jason crossed his arms as both Trina and Tori looked somberly upon their parents. "My uncle was desperate to see his best friends again. He called you forward. I'm sorry, sir."

"What?" Beck chuckled nervously. He pulled his right ankle up over his left knee and extended his left arm around Jade's shoulders. "No that's impossible." Nona put her hands to her waist, raising her eyebrow while glaring sternly at Beck. "No, Holly and David's crazy ass spell sent us into the future. That's what happened."

"That's what you _think_ happened," Nona replied. Jade whimpered as the woman took the jar of ash from Trina and cradled it as though it were an infant. Jade reached out, curling her fingers in, but dropping her hands when the woman looked with disapproval at her. "Don't worry dear, I'm going to be very careful with these. It is a good thing that you have gathered it up and saved it. Now, I think an explanation is due…for everyone here…"

Nona squinted her eyes and shot a look at Erwin. "Dabbler," she whispered. Erwin threw his hands up and paced away to the right. "No worries. Erwin's mistaken attempt may actually be a good thing."

Jade's breath hitched and she lurched forward, searching Nona's eyes for a sign of hope. "It is? What did he do? How is it good?"

"Because your memories-your souls are still alive. Here's the problem…" Nona took a deep breath and walked in front of everyone, stepping just an inch away from the stain on the ground. "There are three magicks at work here. The veil has been twisted in such a way that the only way to correct it is probably the very thing that will save the two of you."

"Three?" Jade squinted her eyes and began to count on her fingers. "Holly tried to use a sleeping spell on us that would put us in a coma." Nona smiled patiently, setting the jar of ash on the table and locking her wrists behind her back. "David used a transformation spell by mistake, drawing us back to fifteen years of age…but that's just two, unless the third is the combined result of the two."

"Allow me to explain."

"Okay."

Nona raised her hand, extending a swift finger. "One Holland did use a liquid mixture that paralyzed your bodies and enabled her sleeping spell to work. Had you not drank that mixture, her spell would have been useless." Nona's nose shifted and wiggled, and her eyebrows relaxed. "Remember that, by the way. _Do not drink that mixture_. It renders your spirit, mind and body vulnerable to the power of the rituals."

"Right, I'll make a mental note of it." She already figured it would be best not to drink it if she ever managed to reverse Holly's spell. She had more questions for the woman, but wanted to let her explain things in hopes that the explanation would clear away some of the clouds of confusion. "What else?"

"Second." Nona turned to them and her smile faded. "David's transformation spell succeeded in transforming the two of you to fifteen years of age. The combined spells would have made the memories fade much slower than normal." Nona walked towards them, peering into their eyes.

"And finally, fifteen years later, your best friend performs a dangerous and desperate ritual to try and resuscitate the two of you, not thinking of the consequences or knowing at all what he was doing."

"What are you saying?" Anger rose in her voice and she stood up, huffing loudly. "Are you saying we're _dead_? We didn't get pushed through time? What are we, puppets like Holly's former boyfriend?"

"You-" Nona raised an eyebrow and Jade threw her hands over her mouth. "Excuse me?" The woman folded her hands at her waist and leaned back. "Explain."

"I…" Jade dropped her hands and leaned her head backwards, groaning in anguish. "It's the whole thing Holly was so angry at me for in the first place, telling what she did. She tried to save someone's life and ended up using a corpse spell or something that made him a soulless puppet permanently attached to her."

Nona's tongue clicked and the girls brought their hands up, groaning into them with disgust. "Well then. I'll leave that to you to figure out. We've more important things to deal with tonight." Nona motioned towards her and her eyebrows arched high. "How are your memories, dear?"

"Fine?"

"You're lying, I can tell by the tone of your voice."

Beck looked at her with worry and she bowed her head. "I'm forgetting a lot." She tucked her hair over her ears and choked back a sob. "I'm forgetting everything. I can't remember anything after I was fifteen-except my wedding and my children." Beck gasped out and tears fell from her eyes as he rose up behind her.

"Why didn't you say something?" He asked. "You know we talked about it, I didn't know it was that bad for you."

Nona's eyes travelled to the jar and she started to sigh. "And yours, Mr. Oliver? How are yours?"

"Terrible." His voice was grim and his eyes were hazy. It was a clear sign he wasn't doing much better than Jade. "We wanted to approach you before."

"You knew who I was. My granddaughter told you about me. Why did you not come to me sooner?"

"We weren't sure how to approach you with the subject."

"I see." Nona picked up the jar and carried it into the kitchen. The group followed her and Jade watched the jar carefully. "These ashes contain what is left of the two of you. Your flesh, your blood, your memories."

The woman opened the jar and placed it carefully on the countertop. A hush fell over them as Nona grasped the sides and began whispering something above the ashes.

Cat brought a blender and two large cups over and also laid out a few herbs: Periwinkle and Ginseng. Also with her was a container of pure herbal green tea. Jade watched closely as the girl added these ingredients into her blender.

All of a sudden Nona spilt the ashes on the counter, and the ash split into two piles on its own. Her heart stopped and the color in her skin began to drain as the woman shuffled the remains into the glasses.

It was not long before she blended the ashes with the herbs and poured them into the glasses. "The herbs are meant to improve and aid your mental cognition while strengthening your hold on the memories."

She handed them the blended drinks, instructing them to drink. Jade looked up nervously as Beck started to groan. "Last time a witch gave us something to drink, we ended up-" Nona smacked Beck on the head, causing him to flinch and pull away.

"I am no witch. Now drink before I force it down your throat, young man!"

Jade gripped her nose, sealing off her nostrils as she brought the odd drink to her lips. The minute it hit her tongue, there was a sweet taste that was quickly overpowered by a revolting and bitter sensation.

She gagged while forcing herself to swallow, dropping her hand to her neck and closing her fingers around her throat. "Oh god it tastes like medicine," Jade whined. Beck downed the drink as one might a shot from the bar, and cried out in anguish.

"Technically it is medicine." Nona walked past the pair, sweeping her hand in the air and motioning for them to follow. Jade's brain started to swell and throb from a burning sensation. She brought her hands to her head and heard Trina ask Nona if they were going to be okay. Nona looked back and shrugged. "They'll be fine. It's going to hurt for a minute. They just drank their flesh, blood, and the memories that were mixed with it."

"Gross."

"What about the remains I used?" Erwin asked while nervously tapping his fingers together. "For the spell I did?"

"What do you think, dabbler?"

"Quit calling me that."

"No." Nona turned around and pointed at Jade and Beck. "The ash remains you used stand before us today." The sharp words struck Jade's heart and she lowered her hands slowly, breathing heavily while staring at the woman as though she touched something she wasn't supposed to. "The ashen remains of their flesh came together to form their flesh, and you ended up binding their spirts-their memories-to that ash. Just now, I had to merge them. To combine it all."

Sikowitz turned pale as though he'd seen a ghost and the girls cried out in horror. Beck spoke up first, his voice filled with fear and confusion. "I don't understand. Are you saying we're just flesh and blood, isn't the phrase 'skin and bone'?"

"Yes, and that would apply to you as well _if true_." Nona rolled her head to the right and narrowed her eyes. "You did not drink _bone_. The texture of that ash does not contain bone or organs, merely skin and blood."

Nona walked towards the couch and raised her head to the ceiling. "As I have examined and analyzed the possibilities of the combined spells, I've derived a conclusion. Would you like to know what that result is?"

"Yes."

The woman closed her eyes and raised her hands, than began to sway from side to side as she spoke another incantation. Jade wrapped her arm around Beck's and looked at her two daughters with a nervous gaze.

After a while, she felt a shift in the energy around her, and a pulse that vibrated through her body. Before turning away, she saw everyone else's eyes enlarge and their skin draining in color.

Tori fainted and Sikowitz ran towards a trashcan, hunching over and groaning. Trina turned away, burying her face into Jason's shoulder while he struggled to remain calm. Jade felt Beck's hand clutch hers and she pulled her gaze to the ceiling, where her eyes froze in horror.

Glued to the ceiling were two full skeletons, peering down at them with dark sockets filled with a pair of eyes staring down at them. The ribcages of both skeletons held hearts that were beating swiftly between lungs that were swelling and closing.

As Beck began to hyperventilate, one of the skeletons' lungs began inflating and deflating at a rapid speed. Below the ribcage were the intestines, somehow managing to remain frozen in place.

It took every bit of strength within herself not to scream. She watched the heartbeat in the smaller skeleton quicken and raised her hand up to her chest. A whimper squeaked out of her lips and her eyes started to roll to the back of her head.

"That is you," Nona said quietly. "Still alive, still comatose as Holly's mixture and spell rendered you." Nona tapped her chin while staring at the pelvis area of the skeleton closely. "Judging by the age of the bones, still teenagers like David's spell rendered the two of you…combined, the resulting explosion of the two spells only melted away your flesh, your blood, and rendered you invisible-frozen in time…"

The woman's shoulders fell and she turned slowly. "When Erwin decided to bring you back using the ash, he collected that flesh and that blood, forming ashen puppets. Reviving the skeletons and their organs. You two do not have organs within you, or much else…the heartbeats you feel, every breath you take when you can hear your lungs inflating…"

She raised her hand to the skeletons.

"Comes from them."

* * *

Well then. A lot of questions answered here. Seems Sikowitz is the one that brought them forward, or really, revived them. They've a similar situation as Gary, and Nona has to untangle all these spells very carefully-else they may perish. Your thoughts and observations?


	14. Tangled Knots

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 14 (Tangled Knots)

Their bodies lay strewn out on the floor before them after half an hour of Nona's careful magic to move the skeletons. Jade and Beck were holding each other on the couch, staring in terror and confusion at the bones as their best friend remained green and with his hands clutching his abdomen.

"Erwin?" Beck looked up at his sickly friend, his voice was quiet and wavering. "Why did you do this? What were you intending?" Their daughters turned to the elder man without any judgment in their eyes.

"I've been depressed a long time," Erwin replied softly. "I've really let myself go, as you can see." He extended his arms, scoffing under his breath. "I couldn't stop thinking about you guys. I hit my lowest point this year, your anniversary came around and everything was falling apart for me…I just had to have you guys back somehow."

He ran his hand over his bald head and started pacing. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know-I didn't know any of this was going to happen. I wasn't thinking."

Nona was kneeling beside the skeletons, examining them carefully. "Look at it this way," the woman stated so abruptly that everyone turned to her. "Your dabbling in what you didn't understand has opened a door, a door which allows your two best friends to be saved."

"How?"

"It's going to take a while to gather the energy and the materials I need." Nona folded her hands onto her knees and pushed herself up slow. Jade started to shake with fear and anxiety as she looked towards her potential rescuer. "I have to reverse a few of the rituals, but at the end of the day, Beck and Jade…your souls-or I should say memories-will have to be sent back through the tunnels of time after all of this."

She became numb with worry and confusion. None of this was making sense, and while Nona was trying to help, she wasn't explaining things clear enough for her to understand what was going on.

"I don't-I'm not understanding. I don't understand _any_ of this."

"Okay." Nona took a deep breath and cast a downward glance at the skeletons. "I can reverse the transformation spell. I can undo your sister's sleeping spell and awaken you, and I can reattach you two to the skeletons, making you both whole again." Nona looked back at them and closed her hands together. "Unfortunately as of right now your souls have been so corrupted and damaged that you will never truly be complete. You will basically be a notch above zombies and a hair above your sister's friend, Gary."

She clutched her chest and felt the muscles in Beck tighten beside her as he started to cringe. Nona pulled her wrists behind her back and clicked her tongue. "Upon reversing the transformation spell, you will be returned to the age you were-thirty-not forty five."

"What happens then?"

"One of two things, or both. Your bodies and mind will age so rapidly that you become nothing more than mindless horrors…or the minute you step outside of this house, you will turn to dust."

"Oh." She began to breathe heavily; the lungs inside her skeleton inflated and deflated so rapidly that the created a whistling noise that drew everyone's attention. "Is that all?" Beck grew stiff and Erwin shook his head suddenly.

"I don't get it," the man yelled, "I'm still waiting to hear how I did was good for them."

"Because, dabbler." Nona approached and put her hands on his shoulder while looking into his frantic eyes. "You've given them a second chance. You awakened their memories-even in fleshy corpses-and allowed their souls to thrive once more." His forehead wrinkled and he spread his arms out.

"But if after all that you've done, they're still confined to this house-"

"All that will be necessary-their minds and spirits must be whole for what I intend." Nona whisked her hands away and shook her hand beside her head. "I must gather the energy to send their spirits through the ripples of time, placing them into their bodies just before Holly's ritual occurs."

"How will that save them?" Trina inquired. Tori nodded fervently and Nona rolled her eyes.

"They will remember. They will remember this life, this time, everything that has happened to them will have happened to them as if they were truly sent forward in time." Jade opened her lips in an oval and clutched Beck's hand as a sense of hope swelled within her. "They can change what happens to them, they can stop it. As long as they do not drink the mixture that Holly gives to them."

"Then-then won't that affect time?" Tori hurried over to Nona, looking at her sister and the others. "That will affect all of us. This life we've known? None of it will happen!"

"If it is meant to happen, it will happen girl."

She heard a gasp and her eyes flew over to Trina, who was grabbing Jason's hand as though she finally realized what that meant. Her heart sank and she bowed her head, wondering if it was truly right for her to go through with this.

"I don't have any doubts or any regrets." Jason's voice filled her ears and she raised her eyes to the man. He was gazing tenderly at his girlfriend, holding her hand in his as the tears filled the girls eyes. "Trina, you and Tori have wanted to know and be with your mom and dad all your lives…if that means sending them back in time to change what happened to them, so be it. If that means you and your sister will be happy, that's what I want."

"But-what if we're not together?"

"What if we are?" He smiled with confidence and gently pushed his fingers through her hair. "If we're meant to be together, then it doesn't matter what timeline happens, we'll find each other."

"I love you, Jason."

"I love you." He kissed her forehead and Nona crossed her arms.

The woman smiled patiently but narrowed her eyes. "Okay, I'm going to need some of you guys to leave the room. I want as much of the appropriate energies in this room."

Beck raised his hand and Nona glanced at him. "What will you do?" She rolled her head to the left, then moved it to the right. Her soft hum drifted into the air and her eyes drifted towards the ceiling.

"Quite simply I am going to attempt to combine you to the skeleton corpses now. It is the only way to undo what your friend has done. At that point, I must awaken the two of you in order to undo what your sister has done. Then finally I must reverse the transformation spell, thus returning you to your thirty year old selves and helping you to regain what memories you may have forgotten."

"Oh." He gripped his throat and a nervous chuckle left his lips. "That sounds…terrifying."

"Yes well, everything must be done _correctly_. So I will need the best concentration possible." Nona tapped Jade under the chin. Her gentle smile soothed her nerves and started to relieve her of her fear. "When you have returned to the appropriate time, in your appropriate bodies, I want you to find me."

"You?" Jade shrugged and looked to Beck, then back to Nona. "Why you? You won't be aware of what happens in the future will you?"

"No, but I want you to tell me _everything_ that has happened to you. I will help properly release the hold that your sister may have put on that Gary fellow. I will also help you to talk to Holly if need be. I am a retired counselor, after all."

Nona walked towards the skeletons and turned her head to Trina and Tori. "Now. I'm going to need breaks between each of these rituals that I perform, which means once I undone the corpse spell your teacher has performed on your parents, and returned their spirits and flesh to these bones, they will be sleeping still…under the influence of your aunt's spell. If you wish to speak with them, now is the time."

"Great."

Jade forced a smile as the tears in her eyes spilled out onto her cheeks. She extended her arms as her daughters approached and hugged her tight. Nona ushered her granddaughter and Erwin out of the room, leaving only Jason in case Trina wanted him by her side.

"This is all happening so fast," Tori said with a single breath. "I had my feelings but I didn't think it anything more than a coincidence." Jade tilted her head and watched the mist form in her children's eyes. "Trina and I-we've seen pictures obviously. Albums our grandfathers showed us…pictures Aunt Holly had in shoeboxes in the closet. I didn't think anything of it at first."

"Me either," Trina replied shakily, "Not until that music box and that lullaby of yours. I remembered granddad's picture book and I knew your names. I thought it was impossible until Jason said his uncle went through with some ritual…I knew he used to be your friend, and I wondered, I hoped this wasn't true."

Trina choked on her breath. "I-" She put an arm around Tori's shoulders. "We have so many questions. If this doesn't work…"

"Then you deserve answers," Beck replied. Jade hugged her daughters harder, still unable to speak. She was petrified over the thought that Nona might be unable to truly save them, leaving their daughters with so much grief. No matter how confident Nona seemed, there was always that chance for failure.

She took a sharp and sudden breath and raised a trembling hand to Tori's cheeks. "Don't ever hate your aunt." She spoke tenderly, hoping her children would listen to her. They bowed their heads and closed their eyes; their hands tightened and the veins in them bulged from the surface. "She was only angry, blinded by her anger. I did something wrong, I betrayed her trust."

"She did this to you."

"She didn't imagine this outcome, she didn't want this outcome. Tori. Trina." She took their hands, holding them with her left, and folded her right hand over them. "Holly loves both of you, so does David. Beck and I have _always_ wanted her to care for you if something happened to us. She regrets what she did, I've seen that when I've spoken with her…I know it's hard, but you have to forgive her."

"Your mom's right." The girls looked at Beck and he mustered up a faint smile. "If Nona can't save us." His voice cracked. "Then I know it'll be hard, but you have to find it in your hearts to forgive your aunt, forgive your uncle."

"It's not fair." Tori whimpered and sniffled while wiping her cheeks with her fingers. "It's like we just met you, and now we don't even get a chance to know you."

"Oh sweetie." Jade curled her fingers and caressed Tori's cheek gently with her knuckles. "Even if Nona's plan fails, we'll always be with you. If it works, then we'll have our entire lives."

"There's so little time, and we have so much we want to tell you. So much we want to talk to you about."

"I know sweetheart."

The family hugged once more, holding each other as time passed, sharing their life in the silence. Eventually Nona returned, placing a gentle maternal hand on Jade's shoulder.

Her heart leapt from her chest and she turned her gaze to the wiser woman while taking a deep and trembling breath. "It is time," Nona whispered.

Beck separated from Trina, still holding her hands. He flashed a genuine smile and looked towards Jason. "One second, Nona." The woman's shoulders fell and she nodded as Beck motioned Jason over. "Jason, I trust you'll be here for Trina?"

Jason smiled and nodded. "You have my word, sir. I will stay by her side through everything." Trina wrapped her arm around Jason's and laid her head onto his shoulder.

Beck wiped a tear from his eyes and choked back on a sob. "That is my daughter. She's grown to be a remarkable woman, even without us being here. I've missed fifteen years of her life, but I love her just the same." He looked to Jason closely and pressed his lips together. "Take care of her. Be there for her like she needs you to be. Make each other happy, treat her as she deserves to be treated…"

"I will, sir."

"And one final thing." Beck took a deep breath and folded his hands over his stomach. "If Robbie and Andre come around, if those two get out of line, give them an extra punch or two." Jason flashed a smirk and laughed once.

"Yes sir."

"Oh, and Erwin?" Beck's chest expanded and his eyebrows came together as Erwin lowered his somber gaze onto him. "We forgive you, okay?" Erwin smiled faintly and sniffled. "We know you didn't do anything out of malice, but your ritual also gave us a second chance…you will always be our dearest friend, no matter what."

"Thank you," Erwin stammered. "I'll miss you."

"You don't have to be alone," Jade replied, "You're a teacher. You know what that means. You have your students, you have people who look up to you. Don't ever feel like you're alone, because you're not."

Nona waited a few moments before ensuring everything was done and shuffling the others out of the room entirely. "Okay." She approached them and raised her eyebrows. "Time for the first step. If this works, you should wake up attached to your actual bodies. It may be a day or two, since this takes a lot of energy. Are the two of you ready?"

"We are." Jade grabbed Beck's hand, tightening her fingers with his. She closed her head and bit down on her lip as Nona began her incantment.

A rush of air spun around them like a tornado, seemingly lifting them from the couch. Jade's mouth fell open and she gasped as a sharp and sudden sensation jolted through her body.

Euphoria and calmness washed over her, filling her with a sense of bliss as her mind went blank and her consciousness drifted away. She was terrified, but she also trusted Nona and was confident the woman would be able to help them. Now, all that was left to do was wait.

* * *

Step one here, let's hope Nona truly can aid them. What are your thoughts with everything here? With what Sikowitz said, the discussion with their daughters, and so forth?


	15. Memories Return

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 15 (Memories Return)

The sound of hushed whispers echoed like thoughts in her mind, and flashes of light over her eyelids cast an orange glow beckoning her to open her eyes. She could feel the pulses of fear in her veins, and she questioned mentally whether or not she'd become a monster.

The whispers grew louder like a snowball rolling down a hill, and with each utterance they told her to wake up. "There are signs of life," a voice spoke, "But this is a delicate matter." A shadow moved over the orange color before her closed vision, and she started to roll as though wanting more sleep.

"Will they still retain their memories?" Another voice inquired. It was soft and fragile, as though the slightest provocation would shatter it.

"So long as they remain in this house, attached to the things that hold their memories, they will not lose their memories before I can reverse the transformation spell."

 _Memories?_

The wail of an infant flourished in her mind, causing a fluttering in her stomach. Her heart skipped a beat as she recalled feeling the weight of her firstborn being placed into her eager arms.

The infant was clad in a purple blanket, her eyes were closed to the world and her tiny lips were open wide. The puffy arms were stretched out and her tiny fingers were curling in as though reaching to grasp something.

"Hush little one, mommy's here." Jade's whisper seemed to calm the child as the baby's cries began to diminish. She extended her finger and smiled as the baby's hand wrapped around it. The child's beautiful blue eyes slid open and melted her heart.

A soft gasp rolled away from her and tears flooded her joyous gaze. Her husband's arm wrapped around her shoulders and he looked down at the baby with a warm and loving smile.

The world would forever change for him. She delighted in the spark lighting up inside her husband's eyes, and the prideful grin that was spreading across his face. "What will we name her?" Jade asked. "We never decided on a name."

Beck's head rolled to the right and a whisper fell from his lips. "Katrina. After your mother…"

 _Another…_

"Take it back!" Demanded a woman with a deep voice. She had dark brown hair flowing to the shoulders of her velvet power suit, and a sharp glare that was cast onto the bakers bringing in a wedding cake. "My son and daughter-in-law are not getting married with a lopsided cake. It must be perfect."

Jade's shoulders fell as a sigh echoed away from her. Her gloved hands grasped her white wedding dress neatly between her fingers. She peered at the frills on the low-cut collar and grinned at the crumples and pearl embroidery of the bell shaped bottom.

"Everything is perfect, mom." The woman put her hand to her chest and turned around with a smile. Jade always looked up to Beck's mother as her own, and why wouldn't she when the woman had been such a powerful influence on her life. "I don't mind if the cake is a tiny bit crooked."

"Oh I know sweetie." The woman put her hands to Jade's bare shoulders and gazed into her eyes. "But this is your big day. You're going to remember this for as long as you live, you and Beckett deserve only the best."

"Thank you. I know I won't ever forget this day." Just then, Holly came rushing in, holding up the bottom of her pink dress. It was soaking wet and stained with a strange liquid, her hair had fallen in front of her face and was dripping. Jade cupped a hand over her mouth and watched her soon to be mother-in-law look on in terror.

"What happened?" The woman belted the words out between gasps, looking ready to keel over at any minute. "You're the maid of honor, you can't go out in a soaking dress."

Holly shook her arms and looked up with disgust. "I tripped and fell headfirst into the punch bowl."

Beck's mother snapped her fingers and rushed behind Holly. "We'll get you to my tailor right away." Holly's eyes grew and she started to protest as the woman forced her forward. Jade couldn't help but to laugh.

 _All that is lost return in this home we have built, the good and the bad_.

"Old habits die hard, is that it?" A day after her twentieth birthday, a time that should be happy, was filled with betrayal and pain. She shoved her boyfriend back as the tears spilt from her eyes like rivers and mascara dripped like wet paint down her cheeks. "I can't believe you would do that." Her voice rose and trembled like an earthquake had struck.

"It wasn't like that," he retorted back. His hands rose and he turned as Jade grabbed for him. She ended up catching the flap of his leather jacket and tore it off his arm, yanking him towards the ground at the same time. "Jade, listen!"

"I don't have to listen." She huffed angrily, her chest heaved and a sob caught in her throat. "On my birthday. I had to catch you with that-that _skank_ on my birthday."

"It wasn't like that."

"Oh, let me guess, she came onto you and kissed you?" Her eyebrows closed and her nostrils flared as she poked her chest. "I gave you five years. Five years, and this is how you repay me?"

Just then another voice rose above hers, his echo caused both to freeze and turn their heads. "Whoa what's going on here?" Erwin approached from behind, his eyes drifted from Jade to Beck, then back. "This certainly isn't the proposal I was told about." Her heart stopped. Beck pushed himself up and began patting down his jacket. "Jade, Beck didn't cheat on you."

She rolled her eyes and pointed to the man. "I caught him kissing some girl outside his house." He'd always been a playboy, so she could rationalize that those days simply weren't over. "If this is how he treats me-"

"Relax." Erwin shook his head and started to chuckle. "I saw the whole thing too, you didn't give him a chance to explain before running off." Erwin motioned to his best friend. "Beck and I were spending that day looking for rings, and that chick showed up at his house-she's just an old girlfriend of his. One that clearly has never gotten over him."

She crossed her arms and looked away, shrugging. "Not making me feel any better Ernie." She didn't care who the girl was, nor did she want to hear any excuses. Beck tried to reach for her, but she pushed his hand away and turned her back to him.

Erwin sighed and pushed his hand through his hair. "That girl has been following him around for a few months now, knows he's getting married and isn't all that thrilled. She did come onto him, and you ran off before he pushed her off, but that's beside the point…"

The man stepped into her view and flashed a peaceful smile. "Look, Beck may have been an asshole in the past that would date a new girl every month." Beck exclaimed at Erwin while his best friend only smirked. "I should know, I've known the guy since we were kids, but he loves you." She sniffed the air and pulled back the corners of her mouth, struggling to hold back her tears.

"I know he gave up his old ways. He said the day he first laid eyes on you, he stopped being a panty-chaser." Beck shot him a look of disgust and started tapping his foot on the ground. Jade chuckled and looked at her red-faced boyfriend with a subtle smile. "He would never cheat on you, because he loves you. You're the first girl he's ever felt this way for, and I know he wouldn't be here right now begging you to forgive him if he didn't feel so strongly about you."

"I never meant to hurt you," Beck whispered. He walked up to her, looking into her gaze and slowly pulling the hair from her face. "I want to be with you, for the rest of our lives. You, no one else." She felt her heart leap into her throat and pulled her hand over her chest. She gasped out and watched as he reached into his jacket.

When he removed a small box, he moved down on one knee and looked up at her with a sincere and loving expression. Her hands moved over her mouth and when she saw the diamond ring light up in the moonlight, it became the only thing she saw.

"You are the only woman I care for, the only one I want in my life. You've made me the happiest, the luckiest man alive. I can't think of anyone else I want beside me, to share my life with. Say yes?"

Returning to the family home, all Jade could hear was her two year old daughter screaming, crying for her mother as she began to lose consciousness. "You idiot," Holly screamed at David, "This isn't what I wanted. This isn't it at all."

"I didn't think it would do anything," David shouted back. His voice was in a panic, frenzied and unstable as the magic coursing through Jade's body. "What's happening to them?"

"I don't know. Two different spells, two entirely different types of rituals should never be used at the same time." Jade felt her sister grabbing her wrist, crying out to her. "Jade, hold on please." The woman's face was wet and stricken with a grief like nothing before. "I'm sorry!"

David grabbed his hair, cursing as he paced the floor. "How do we stop it? How do we stop it?"

"We can't. It's too late…I can't even see her anymore." Just then a searing wave of heat ran across Jade's body, and Holly's grief turned to horror as she was blown against the front of the house. David ran to her side and knelt down beside her.

Holly's head fell to her shoulder, her eyes closed tight and her body fell limp. "Holly?" David cried. "Holly? What's going on?" Trina's screams intensified, and the sound of an infant in the other room joined her cries. David shook Holly in a desperate attempt to rouse her, but the attempt was in vain. "Holly?"

"Wake up, damn it, wake up!" In her fading consciousness, she watched David fret about and grab a book from the purse that had fallen beside her sister. "Don't worry, I'll fix this. Maybe there's something in your book about this."

Jade opened her eyes and sat up with a start. "She's dead," she said with a sudden gasp. Beck sat beside her, his eyebrow arched and lips parted briefly. Around them were their two daughters, Jason, Erwin and Cat, and Nona. Jade stammered to catch her breath, looking between the group. "What happened? Where-"

"You're alive," Erwin whispered, "The woman's ritual was a success."

Nona threw her head back and poked her chest forward. "Of course it was," Nona replied, brimming with confidence. The woman exhaled and peered down at the two. "Nearly a week has passed, but the two of you are back in your original bodies. The first step is complete. Tell me, what did you see while you were asleep?"

Beck brought his hand to his head and shook his head from side to side. "Memories I thought I'd lost. They were coming back to me."

"Same here." Jade groomed back her hair and looked up at Nona with a racing heart. She wasn't sure what to make of the last one, it had stolen her breath and filled her with worry. "I-I think something else happened the day Holly performed her ritual on us, Nona."

"What is it, dear?"

"I-" Her fingers curled over her collar and she glanced at the relieved looks on her daughters' faces. "I'd rather not say in front of my children." Trina and Tori exchanged glances, then at the insistence of Nona, left the room with Cat. Jade took a deep, slow breath and looked back into Nona's eyes. "I think Holly died that day also."

"What?"

"She…" Jade bowed her head and dropped her hand beside her legs. Beck's hand fell over hers and he looked at her with a comforting glance. "She was grabbing my arm when this intense heat went over us. The explosion of fire, it knocked her across the room. The last thing I saw, she was limp, not breathing, and David was going through her spell book."

"Oh good lord." Nona smacked her forehead and walked to the right, muttering curses under her breath. "Another spell to manipulate the dead. These should not be so readily available that those who know not what they are doing would have access."

"What can be done?"

"Easy." Nona approached and pointed at her. "When I send the two of you back, you prevent that ritual from taking place. If successful, there is nothing I will need to do here as this future may not come to pass. What I must do now is reverse David's spell on you, in order to lock your memories in place."

"You said we shouldn't leave the house. Why is that?"

"Because while the two of you slept I have performed a ritual to cleanse and seal this home. It is a holder of your memories, and as long as you remain in this house while David's transformation spell is active, you will not lose the memories that you have of your lives between the ages of fifteen and thirty."

Remembering correctly what Nona had said prior to all of this, she knew the minute Nona undid David's spell that there was a chance she and Beck would rapidly age to where they were supposed to be.

Nona would have to act fast to get them to where they belonged, and she hoped it would be soon.

* * *

Thoughts? All the memories that had been lost have been returned to them, even the very final thing they ever saw before Holly's ritual. Speaking of which...


	16. Consequences of the Unnatural

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 16 (Consequences of the Unnatural)

Jade leaned her shoulder against the doorframe of the bathroom and hooked her finger over her upper lip as she scanned Beck up and down. He was looking at himself in the mirror and had a near maniacal laugh as he fixed his hair.

His thick, dark brown moustache had returned to his face, with the bristles sweeping out like a western sheriff 'stache. Beck's wavy hairstyle was much shorter, combed with a part on the left and swept towards the back to present a more professional look. "You'll be shaving again, I hope?" She smirked and watched him slide his index finger and thumb along the stubble on his jaw and chin.

"Why would I do that?"

"Because your wife can tolerate the moustache, not the beard." She didn't mind his beard, but he looked better with just the moustache. He was taller and more built around the shoulders and chest. "How does it feel being thirty again?"

"Good, but I'm hoping Nona gets ready fast. I'm not looking forward to the rapidly aging to forty-five part." He turned and his eyes fell onto her. Beck let out a wistful sigh and reached his strong hand to Jade, cupping her cheek. "You don't look like you've aged at all, dear."

"That's the magic of makeup, sweetheart." Her skin felt like it had tightened in an instant when Nona reversed them back to their proper ages, and while she had few wrinkles, they were minimal and her skin was still smooth. She had more smile lines and thinner eyelashes, and her hair was shorter.

All in all she felt great and confident now being back in the body she felt she needed to be. "I feel more myself again too, what about you?"

"I do." His lips curved up and he brushed against her while moving past her. Jade followed him into the living room where her eyes fell onto the computer seated on the coffee table. "I've been doing some research on this woman David told me about. 'Erin Anders'."

She didn't recognize the name, much less she didn't see why David would bother telling Beck anything about some random woman. "What does she have to do with us?" He shrugged.

"Nothing." He sat in front of the computer and she walked up behind the couch. As she leaned over the back, her hands slid along Beck's shoulders and her eyes drifted to the screen.

A public records site was open and with it was a photo of a woman with long jet black hair. It was frizzled and looked as though it hadn't been brushed or washed in years. She had piercing black eyes with crow's feet stretching out like cracks, scratches on her face and strange red bumps on and around her lips.

"Damn." She squinted her eyes and read the information provided. "Thirty-eight years old? She looks older than us."

"Well-"

"She looks older than forty, Beck." Jade pushed her arms around his neck and squinted at the charges. The woman was arrested in early 2005 for one count of kidnapping and one count of sexual abuse on a minor. The victim was just eleven years old when taken from the children's area at the city mall. "Ugh the mall. Remind me never to shop there."

"Yeah." Shadows spilled over his eyes and the right corner of his mouth indented into his cheek. "No idea why David would even bring up one of his arrests." It must have been important, but soon it wasn't going to matter. "Jade? Would we ever leave one of our kids in the mall play area?"

"I wouldn't." She poked her finger out at the woman on the computer and scoffed. "Too many freaks like that out there." She was fine letting her kids walk to and from school, she was fine letting them play out in the yard or in the neighborhood, but she'd never leave her kid alone at the mall. "Anyway, get ready, Nona should be here any minute with Holly and the girls."

"Holly?"

"Yes." She rose up and flung her hair behind her. "I asked that Nona bring her and David before sending us back." She couldn't bear leaving Holly behind as a walking corpse. Her soul was already corrupt and damaged beyond repair, according to Nona, but that didn't mean she wasn't wanting to release her.

In the slightest chance that Nona's spell didn't work and left everyone behind, she wanted Holly's spirit to be freed. "I want to release my sister before we go. If Nona's plan fails, Holly's soul shouldn't be trapped to a corpse. This way, if it does fail, maybe I can help guide my sister to the light? Or whatever it is people call it."

"That's good of you to think of her." He twisted around, hanging his elbow over the couch and looking up with a smile. "If her plan succeeds, then what? I mean, obviously we don't drink that mixture, your sister doesn't end up 'killing' us and then herself, and what?"

She crossed her arms and her lips began twisting. They weren't done yet; they were far from finished. Even going back, there was more work that had to be done. "We save my sister from herself." It was easier said than done. She was going to have to convince Holly that what she was involved in could ruin her life; it wasn't as though Holly would know the future like this. "We get her also to release Gary's soul."

Beck moved his head back. "Hmm," he said while patting the couch with his hand. "I forgot about Gary, sort of. He died before everything."

"Right. Holly may not realize the gravity of what she's done; but hopefully once we've calmed her down enough to actually talk, I can get her to realize how serious everything is." Then there was the task of finding Nona in the past.

Nona had given them the address of her old home, but it would still be a far stretch to tell the woman everything that had transpired in the future.

The front door flew open with incredible force, blasting cold air into the room. "Prepare for a lecture!" Nona's voice rose to fever pitch as the woman guided Holly, David, Erwin, Cat and the girls into the house. "I'm going to tell you why I am to send Mr. and Mrs. Oliver's souls back through the tunnels of time, and why magic should not be abused."

Beck shut the laptop and stood from the couch, looking upon Nona with an annoyed glare. "Couldn't you knock first?" He asked. Nona waved her hand and grunted at him.

"No." She turned her back to them and moved her eyes from person to person. She spoke in a low voice and closed her eyebrows together, adding depth to the wrinkles on her brow. "You must understand 'magic' no matter what kind it is, is made by humankind. To use it disrupts the flow of time period."

Jade moved towards Nona, intrigued by what the woman was saying. It was confusing as well, but she said little for the hope that she might understand if she listened.

"Fate. Destiny. Time. These are the paths of our lives chosen by the divine forces beyond human control." She pursed her lips and sat carefully on the armrest of the couch. "We use the art of magic for holistic purposes and holistic only, it is not meant to be used to alter the flow of things."

"What are you saying, Grandma?" Cat inquired. "That there's a reason certain spells are considered 'dark'?"

"Yes child." Nona raised her hands up and stretched her fingers outwards. "Spells of the dead. Necromancy. Spells to alter the flow of time. Spells to control another. Magic used for the purposes of the seven sins. These are illicit, dark spells, spells created by humankind which indulged in those seven sins. They were not pure, they were not noble-they were dark, evil. These practices were the basis of every 'witch' you see in the media, every scream of fear you hear at night. Rituals that should never be practiced by any."

Nona extended her arm pointing to an empty car outside the window. "If with a spell I commanded that driverless car to come in and crush one of you, I have twisted the hands of fate."

It was beginning to make sense in her mind, though she was still sorting out her thoughts. According to Nona, the dark spells changed history, that much was known. "A murder is still a murder, isn't it?" Jade's lips pursed and she gazed solemnly as Nona twisted towards her. "That individual killed by the car you command, were they then destined to die?"

"No. Because a driverless car cannot, of its own will, kill somebody. If a person is murdered by a gunman, that death was intended by the universe and written in the tapestry of time." She curved her hand under her chin and squinted, humming thoughtfully while processing the woman's lesson. "If a spell causes a death, then that death should be left alone, but that spell has punched a hole in the fine tapestry that guides this universe."

"In other words, none of this should have ever happened?" She pushed herself up and swept her arms out to the sides. "Beck and I shouldn't even be here?"

"That is correct. What happened to you as a result of your sister's discrepancy should never have happened to you. You were not destined to that fate. Something that happens on its own is part of the plan of the universe, something that happens as a result of dark practices such as curses, rituals, these are unnatural."

"Okay fine," Holly interrupted in a bitter tone. "We get it. Certain spells shouldn't be used for the sake of greed, envy, anger and blah blah. What am I doing here?"

"You're here on request of your sister." Holly unfolded her arms slowly, looking like a deer in the view of headlights as Nona's eyebrow arched high. "I'm afraid I have some bad news…"

Sensing what was coming, Jade walked towards Holly and grabbed her sibling's hands into hers. "Let me," she said. Nona's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she waved her hand dismissively while moving for the couch.

"So be it."

"What's going on?" Holly asked. Jade took a deep breath, bowing her head as tears swelled up beneath her eyelids.

"Holly what's the last thing you remember during that incident?" Holly turned her head and a suspicious gleam shone in her eyes. "I need you to understand. Immediately following your spell, what happened?"

"I…why is this important?"

"Please." Her voice snapped out and Holly flinched. In the corner of her eyes she saw David's face go long and the color seep away from his skin. Erwin's jaw fell open and he muttered something that, in turn, caused Tori and Trina to shift their expressions as though they saw a ghost.

"I don't remember. I think…I was horrified by what was happening to you."

"And then what? What happened when you yelled at David?"

She could feel the blood gushing through the veins in Holly's hands. The beats came like the beats of a drum in a marching band, steadily growing louder and stronger "I-I ran for you. I grabbed your wrist just as the explosion-" The beats stopped and Holly gasped out in horror. "No, it can't be. I-"

"I'm sorry Holly." She swallowed down the lump which formed in her throat and looked at David. "I saw, the last thing I saw, was David scrambling to revive you. He used a corpse spell. Holly…"

"Don't say it." Holly forced her hands from Jade's, throwing them to the side and rushing a few feet to the right. The woman's shoulders shot up like the peaks of mountains and she hugged her sides. "It's not true. You're lying."

"She isn't," David replied in a low and mournful voice. "I was desperate, and I didn't want to lose you. I took your book from your purse…there was a spell that would bind your spirit before it left your body."

"I have to release you." She placed a firm hand onto Holly's shoulder. She sniffed through her tears and started to choke over her the air she was struggling to release. "If Nona's plan fails, I can't relax knowing you're trapped. I've asked Nona…I've asked her to release you before sending us back."

Holly twisted around partially, her tears flowed over her cheeks and her fingers tightened around her shirts. "I'm scared," she said with a wavering tone. Jade tried to reach out for her sister, but when she felt the older woman's hand on her shoulder, she dropped her hands and bowed her head.

"I'm afraid there is very little time left." Nona walked past her and placed her thumb onto Holly's forehead. Holly's eyes enlarged and her lips separated. The woman's body began to shiver and sweat.

All was silent as the woman's shivering ceased and her muscles began to relax. "Jade," Holly whispered. Her heart skipped and she clutched tight the shirt over her chest as a whimper shook away from her lips. She wanted to cradle her sister in her arms, to tell her everything would be okay, but she knew once Nona had begun her ritual there was no interrupting it. "Jade, I love you. I-I'm sorry…so sorry."

As Nona began to speak her chant, Tori and Trina held each other and David turned away. Erwin and Beck stood side by side, gazing without expression as Holly began to tilt her head backwards. Jason put his arms around the girls, letting them bury their faces into his shirt while Cat joined her grandmother's chant in an attempt to lend her own strength.

Jade watched in horror as Holly's flesh body collapsed to the ground, and a silhouette of light stood in place. The light was humanoid in appearance and had various red and black blotches covering it like a rash.

Holly's face formed on the head, gazing out at Jade as fire began under Holly's feet. "What's going on?" Jade broke from her pose, gasping and tensing while reaching her hand out. "What's happening to her?" The fire soon engulfed the woman, and Jade cried out, her scream echoed off the walls and vibrated at her feet. "Holly!"

In a flash the woman was gone. Jade's knees buckled and she dropped to the ground, grasping at the carpet where Holly once stood. "I'm sorry," Nona said, "But her soul had been far too corrupted and damaged, she could not be saved after fifteen years of entrapment." Her breath split apart, breaking into a heavy pant. Her fingers scraped along the carpet and she began to lean her forehead into the ground while screaming into the floor.

"I know it is of no comfort for you to know the truth of where he spirit has gone, and you must not dwell on it now. This is the consequence of using magic or spells of any kind for the wrong reason…"

Beck knelt beside her and placed his hand onto her shoulder. She turned her head and saw his face had grown long and his eyes were glazed over with tears.

She saw a streak of grey in his hair, and his moustache was turning from brown to salt and pepper. She cried out in shock and fell into his chest.

"It's time," Nona muttered, "I will need all of you. We must build the energy in this place. Do the beginning chant as I have instructed…"

Everyone began to form a circle around her and Beck. Jade raised her head slowly as the men in the room started off the chanting song. "Earth my body, water my blood. Air my breath and fire my spirit…"

They repeated this verse with each person slowly joining in after each repeated verse. "I am born of the elements," sung the women, "I am born of the elements…"

She could feel a tremendous force around her, as though the energy in the room were intensifying and the air was parting like a sea. Her muscles grew tight and she closed her eyes.

"Earth my body, soil and sand. Make me strong, heart and hand. Water my blood, flowing strong-lead me with your healing song. Air my breath blowing true, let my life take flight in you. Fire my spirit burning bright, lead from darkness into light…"

Her stomach began to churn as various sensations began to spin about her. A cool wind caressed her, and numbness overtook her. The chant began to taper off and Nona could be heard speaking her ritual as though she had already prepared the beginning of it.

Soon she was seeing her own self as though hanging above her body, and beside her was her husband peering into her eyes with a strong and stoic expression. The wind around them spun faster and they began to float towards the center.

Jade felt no fear nor worry, and willed herself to be led into the strange unknown.

When her eyes opened once more she let a sharp breath fly from her mouth. She felt her husband's hand curling around hers, heard the sound of cartoon voices laughing on a television she saw in front of her. She could smell the scent of coffee brewing in the kitchen, and she remembered all that happened to her seemingly in an instant.

The doorbell rang once, it's chime was but a distant beep in the back of her mind as she scanned the area with baited breath. "Mama?" Her child's voice broke the silence and pulled her eyes towards the high chair nearby just as the doorbell chimed a second time.

"Katrina?" Her heartbeat skipped into her hand and her cheeks grew wet from a flood of tears.

"Honey?" Beck nudged her slowly, his eyes were wide and his skin was pale. "Your sister's at the door. What are you going to do?" She pulled apart from him and placed her hand over her mouth. "Those drinks…the woman said not to drink…"

It was all too much to react to at once. Part of her wanted to pick Trina up and hug her tight while another part of her wanted to go running to Tori in the nursery and cradle her close.

Still, there were important matters that needed to be handled before anything else, and someone she wished to see more than anyone else. "I want you to take those drinks into the kitchen and set them on the counter. Do not do anything with them." She didn't want to pour the drinks down the drain since she didn't know how that would affect the pipes, but they could figure out how to dispose of them later.

"Okay."

She inhaled deep and adjusted her outfit before straightening her back and walking to the door. With tears in her eyes, she opened the door and saw her sister's angered expression glaring back at her.

She was alive.

"Oh god." Her breathing vibrated and her tears dropped from her chin. Holly's eyebrow rose as she raised her shaky hand to caress her sibling's cheek. "You're alive. You're really alive. I saw you…"

"What are you going on about now?" Holly said with a scowl. Beck took the tray away from Holly and David, causing the woman to glare his way. Before she could say much else, Jade threw her arms around her sister, clutching her tight against her chest. "What the hell!"

"I love you, Holly." She wept into her sister's shirt and her embrace tightened around her. "I love you. Let's not fight. This isn't the answer, what you want to do. You're angry, you think you want this but you'll end up regretting it when you're done and you won't be able to live with yourself."

"What are you-" Holly squirmed and groaned in her failed attempts to flee Jade's grip. "Let me go."

"No, I'm never letting go. We're going to work through this…"

* * *

So the sisters reunite and we've come full circle, but can Jade reach Holly in the midst of all that anger the woman feels? What are your thoughts on the chapter, and what are your thoughts of what is to come? It's been said that there may be certain things that are meant to happen, what do you think the future will be like?


	17. A Sister's Love

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 17 (A Sister's Love)

Jade led her perplexed sibling to the couch, still holding her hand so she wouldn't leave. "What are you doing?" Jade felt the woman tugging back on her hand, but this only caused her to tighten her trembling grip. "Jade, would you let go of me, _please?"_

When she tightened her grip again, Holly fell quiet and stared into her sister's glossy eyes. It was a struggle to think of what to say to her, and Jade wasn't sure what Holly would believe.

"Holly, I love you." She moved her left hand over her right and folded her fingers around her sister's hand. "I know you're angry because I told Beck about Gary, and he talked to Erwin about it, and I'm sorry." Holly's mouth clamped together like a steel trap and her brow started to wrinkle. "Beck's sorry too. It was just an impulsive act, we never meant to hurt you."

"People think I'm dangerous." Holly stuttered and growled out her words. "People think I'm some kind of-" The woman's eyes darted to the toddler watching from nearby and her body started to relax. "Are you sure you don't want a drink?"

She smiled weakly and raised her eyebrows. "I'm sure. I'm already making some homemade hot chocolate anyway." Her sister tilted her head and cast a lingering glance of suspicion upon her.

"How'd you know we brought hot chocolate, Jade?"

"If I told you, you would not believe me." She took a deep breath and wiped away the frenzied tears in her eyes. The image of Holly's soul melting away remained like a stain on her brain, and she couldn't let that happen. "Do you hate me, Holly? I made a mistake, but do you hate me?"

The woman gasped aloud, then averted her gaze, but Jade didn't need her to say anything to know the answer. Her sister was angry and scared, but she never intended to kill her.

"I know why you're here, Holly. Don't ask me how, but I know it's going to backfire in the worst way…" Holly pulled her hand away when Jade's grip loosened and she quickly folded her arms across her chest. Jade waited for her to speak, but gave up when her sister refused to look back at her. "Erwin's going to turn to necromancy, David has the wrong spell."

The tears forming in Holly's eyes glistened in the light. It was an endearing sight because for the first time, Jade felt like she might be able to get through to her sibling.

"You die, Holly. All of us die, my daughters grow up never knowing their parents."

"I didn't come here to kill you." Holly snapped her body towards Jade and narrowed her eyes onto her. "I couldn't do that. I'm just pissed, okay. You're still my sister, I don't want you dead. I just…"

"I know." She breathed out slow and closed her eyes. "I know you're just angry, and I know you're angry about more than the whole thing with Gary. I want you to know you're not alone, you don't have to be alone. You're my big sister and I never wanted to make you feel insignificant. You're smart, you're capable of doing whatever you want to do…this thing you're involved in, I was only afraid you would end up hurting someone."

Holly bowed her head and dropped her shoulders. Her tears fell like rivers down her face, but she ignored them. Jade smiled faintly, moving her hand to her sister's shoulder.

"Please, whatever it is you're dealing with, let me go through it with you." Holly pushed Jade's hand away and opened her eyes.

"You said-You said David had the 'wrong spell', how would you even know what we were doing?"

"Okay." She leaned back slowly and looked up at Beck and David, both of whom were standing nearby with watchful expressions. Her hands folded in her lap and her gaze dropped down to the floor. "I want you to have an open mind. For the last-however much time we spent-I've been nothing but terrified…and you know I don't know the first thing about magic or spells or curses…"

"Go on."

"Beck and I have just spent countless days, weeks, fifteen years into the future." Holly raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, but Jade spoke quickly so as to get every word out before her sister could break her concentration. "We met a woman that was able to send our souls, our spirits back into this timeline where our souls would no longer be 'corrupted'."

"Um-"

"In order for your ritual to work, we would have had to drink the potion you put in those hot chocolate drinks." Holly's jaw fell open and David looked over his shoulder with a perplexed hum. "You just wanted to put us to sleep, to hide us away in the shadows or something. You needed two people for the spell to work but David said the wrong one-he said something that had to do with transformation or deaging…"

Holly's eyes began to grow wider and she looked up at David. "That's impossible. If we mix two different spells-"

"It created an explosion that melted our skin and rendered our skeletons alive but invisible. It killed you when you tried to stop it." She grabbed Holly's spell book and raised it up. "We saw David using the first corpse spell he could find to save you, like you did with Gary." Holly's hand flew over her mouth and her breathing began to shudder. "Fifteen years later, Erwin did the same thing with us out of desperation…You were a puppet, Gary was still attached to you."

Holly threw her hands to her head, groaning for several seconds before shouting at the top of her lungs. "Okay stop." Silence fell like a shroud around them, leaving only the whimsical tune of the music box playing from the other room.

Jade breathed heavily, her heart pounded like a hammer against her ribs. Holly lowered her hands to her knees and released a breath that appeared to roll throughout her entire body.

"Let's say what you're saying is true. How do you even know all this happens? Some lady sent you back?"

"Yes. Nona Valentine." Holly's eyes lit up, and for the first time Jade could see her sister latching onto something she knew of. It was a relief, because anything that Holly could associate with to alleviate any confusion would be a good thing.

"Her? I've heard of her, she's involved in that wiccan stuff downtown." Holly took her spell book and looked down at it. "She's runs a wiccan shop and is always talking about how misunderstood the religion is because of…because of spells like these."

"Right. Wicca isn't evil according to her, but the stuff you're doing? The necromancy? These are dark arts or something, things used for evil that give a bad rep, but that's another issue altogether."

"But _she_ sent you two back here?"

"Yeah. Our souls were too damaged to be saved then, I think. This was the only way she thought to save us."

Her sister cast a contemplative look to her book and then looked up at David. "Dave? What was the chant you had memorized?" She placed the book in her lap, gripping its edges firmly. "Did you memorize the wrong one?"

David started to frown and he uncrossed his arms slowly. "I don't know anything about witchcraft, Holly. I couldn't understand any of it, so I picked out a spell and hoped it was the right one."

"You…didn't know what you were doing?"

"No. I'm sorry." He spoke the chant he learned under his breath and the color began to fade from Holly's skin.

"Your soul was too damaged to save," Jade said with a choked voice. Holly turned her head and Jade's tears rolled away from her chin. "That's why right now, I'm just so happy to see you. I-I can't tell you the horror we saw before Nona saved us. She had to release your soul from your corpse, all the years that passed by…"

Holly's hand rose to her throat and she shook her head from side to side. "I'm sorry Jade. I mean, I never intended that."

"You wanted to put us into some sort of deep sleep?"

"Yeah, but maybe for a few months-a year at most." Holly's expression grew blank and her words were barely heard over the music coming from the other room. "I was angry at you. I wanted you to know what it felt like to be living in the shadows. I wasn't thinking about anything. I just."

"I won't lecture you on the consequences-" She stopped to think of Nona's last order, which was to find her. She was to take Holly as well, so there was little doubt that Nona would have a lecture waiting for the girl even without knowing what happened. "I'm sure Nona will do that."

"What?"

"You understand we have to release Gary." Holly gasped. Her grip on the book became tight and fear flashed in her eyes. Jade placed a gentle hand over her sister's and smiled with reassurance. "It'll be okay. Trust me. He's already dead and you know it-wouldn't you rather his soul be able to cross over while he still can?"

"What would happen if he didn't?"

"He would burn," Beck replied with a deep and blunt tone. Holly whimpered and Jade shot her husband a disapproving look. The man whisked his hand from his chin as though pushing it away with a sigh. "When Nona released your soul, Holly, it was red and black, so damaged that it couldn't cross over. Nona had to destroy what remained of your soul. It was only a miracle you and Gary hadn't become demons or monsters after fifteen years of being bound to a corpse…but from what we saw, there wouldn't have been much time left before that happened."

All this talk was depressing enough, but the feeling of finally getting through to her sister was like a weight falling from her chest. Holly was frozen with terror and shock, and Jade preferred a gentler method of getting through to her, but maybe Beck's bluntness was what was needed.

"Holly," she said with a soft undertone, "I will always need my big sister. I will always love you no matter what, and I will always want you around. Do you understand?" Holly moved her body towards Jade, slowly setting her head onto her shoulder. "

I don't want anything to happen to you, that's why I've been so worried about this stuff you've gotten involved in. I won't make you stop, and I won't ask you to stay away from the stuff, but I know you're better than this. You don't have to resort to rituals and magic to get what you want."

"I love you too, Jade." Holly took a deep breath and looked at the nearby toddler. "This future of yours…how were the children?"

"They were about as looked after as they could be. You and David raised them, which is what Beck and I wanted if something ever happened to them."

"Really?" Holly's mouth opened into an oval and her eyebrows rose. "I didn't know that."

"There's nobody else we trust enough to raise our girls, to give them a mom and a dad, and a healthy life. Trina was obviously affected by what happened, though. Even as young as she is, it scarred her."

"I…don't know what to do. I'm not good at anything." Holly covered her face with her hands and began to shake. "Even this magic stuff. Gary's dead because of me."

"Don't you have a medical degree?" Beck inquired. Holly's hands slid away from her face and she looked up at his with a nod. "Erwin has a Christmas party going on at his place tonight and one of his friends is a doctor, why not introduce yourself? Mingle a bit." He shrugged and walked over to the couch. "If I remember correctly, his practice has been looking for a new nurse."

"But what if Erwin told him about what I've been doing?"

"Erwin hasn't told more than one or two other people, and I can almost guarantee the rumor mill won't spread." Beck's eyes narrowed and his hand bounced in the air. "The man was drunk when he said anything at all. A drunk accusing someone of witchcraft carries very little weight."

"If you say so…"

"Give it a chance." She smiled at him for a minute and wiped away her tears. Beck ran his hand over his neck and rolled his head into the rub. "Anyway, first thing's first, we have to go find Nona. God knows how she's going to react to all this."

"Right, but first." Jade lifted Holly's hands and held them in between her own. She looked with strong certainty into her sibling's eyes and spoke with both confidence and sternness. "You have to promise me that no matter how angry we get at one another, you won't try something like this on me or my husband again."

"I'm sorry."

"I mean it, okay?" Holly smiled weakly and nodded once. "Anything. You come talk to me, let us work it out. I will _always_ have time for you. You don't have to resort to curses or rituals to get your point across. I care about you. Always."

Holly embraced her tight, sniffling into her shoulder. Jade hugged her back, her heart swelled with pride. She heard Beck say something about being glad not to be the same age as their daughters anymore, his attempt to diffuse the tension with humor no doubt.

There was still work to be done, but for the most part, she was happy to be able to be there for her sister. While she knew Holly got the message, there was no doubt in her mind Nona was going to scold her even more. Perhaps it would cement the matter for her sister. Holly didn't need the these spells in order to get by, she could get by with the knowledge and skills she did have, and that was what truly mattered.

"You have everything," Holly muttered tearfully. "A wonderful husband, two beautiful kids. You don't struggle financially, and you could work if you wanted to. You've got such a great life…I just wanted to have _something_."

"And you do. You _will_." Jade pulled away and pat Holly's upper arms while flashing a tender smile. "You're smart, you've gone through college. You have someone you know cares about you." She motioned to David and her eyebrows rose high. "I mean he must if he was willing to find a spell to try and save your life."

Holly chuckled once while David's flared up with a red tint. "Besides that." She turned back to Holly, breathing in sharp. "I'm sure you two will have children of your own. You don't have to have my life in order to be happy, you just have to make your own life and find your own happiness…and know that I will be there for you every step of the way."

"Thank you. I'll try and be a better sister to you. I mean that."

"You've always been a good sister to me." Jade grabbed a small cloth from the couch and used it to wipe away the streaks on Holly's face. Holly sniffled and started to pull away, but Jade continued to wipe her face. "This was just one moment where we really weren't thinking things through. You're my best friend Holly, and you always will be. I love you, no matter what."

"I love you too…will you please stop babying me now?"

"I just saw you die, your soul destroyed, and now you're here again. No, I will not stop babying you." Holly smiled back at her and leaned forward with a defeated sigh, letting her continue to wipe away the tears. "And by the way, you're no longer allowed to be the aunt that spoils my daughters as they grow up."

"What? Why?"

"Because what I just went through, I'll be doing that enough that they won't need it." Holly laughed and a twinkle glistened in her eyes.

"Oh, I'm still totally going to be that aunt. I've already got brownies and cookies prepared for the first time you have to ground them."

"Of course you do."

* * *

So they got through to Holly, diffusing the anger she had. What are your thoughts on this chapter? There are a couple chapters left, just sort of an aftermath and then seeing how everything comes together in the future. You might be surprised some of the things that are truly meant to happen, perhaps Beck will cry after all? How different will things be though, we will see.


	18. Clarity

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

* * *

Chapter 18 (Clarity)

Entering Nona's shop carried a surreal feeling as well as the sense of déjà vu. The first thing Jade noticed were the shelves of trinkets, of which the first she noticed was a jar of graveyard dirt. "Anyone else getting the creeps here?" Asked David as he walked in behind them. "What is this place?"

"A shop for wiccans, I believe," answered Gary. He was standing between Beck and David, and pushing his trembling hands into his pockets. "I've never associated with the type."

"There's nothing wrong with being wiccan," Jade replied. She didn't know much about the religion, aside from what little Nona told them about it. Still, she knew it was just another religion that people followed, and they weren't nearly as bad as some made it out to be. "But I don't know what to tell you here, I know you're not going to have the best thoughts right now…"

"What does that mean?"

"You'll find out soon enough." She focused on the desk towards the back of the store. Behind it was a vibrant jewel encrusted sheet hanging in a doorway. She walked towards it, smiling when she saw the familiar older woman sweeping the sheet away and walking into the area.

"Hello, how may I assist you today? Is there anything in particular you're looking for?" Jade nearly teared up when she saw Nona, and to her surprise, the woman was cradling a small infant in her arms. Her heart jumped from her chest and for a moment she wanted to hold the child in her arms.

"Cat is such a sweet child," she said under her breath. Nona's eyebrow rose and she shot Jade a glance of curiosity. Jade threw her hand over her mouth, covering up a sharp gasp.

"You know my granddaughter's name?"

Beck shook his head and started to chuckle. "Smooth, dear." She frowned at him and watched as he moved towards Nona. "Yes, what my wife meant to say is 'hello Nona, we've met before and you probably aren't going to believe a word of what we are about to say'." He slid his hand through his hair and let out a heavy sigh. "Thought I'd get that out of the way first." Nona looked skeptical, but her silence told Jade she was at least listening. "Your granddaughter is also the reason we've met, but she was much older."

"Older?"

"Yes, by about fifteen years, in which case we were younger by fifteen."

Nona looked down at her granddaughter, then back up with a suspicious glance. "You better begin making sense, boy."

Holly raised her hand and spoke out, grabbing Nona's attention. "It's hard to explain, even I didn't understand at first, but I think that's not the important part. Or at least, not why we're here." Holly placed the two hot chocolate containers on the desk and Nona looked down at them with a wrinkling brow.

"What is this?"

"A mixture I made. A ritual I wanted to perform on my sister out of anger…my boyfriend gave the wrong spell, and it sort of killed them." Nona's frown lines increased and her eyes drifted towards Beck and Jade. "I think their friend revived them some time in the future, where they met you and you sent their souls back into this present time."

"Let me get this straight." Nona placed her grandchild in a small carriage nearby and picked up one of the cups. The woman started to speak slow, and an ominous tension filled the air. "You were going to use a spell for dark purposes, and it failed?"

"Well no, not really, but yes it did." Holly scratched her head and Nona dropped her left hand to her waist. The woman's eyes were filled with scorn and judgement, and her nostrils were beginning to flare. "I was angry, but there's really more to it…Jade was told by you in the future to find you now or something."

"Jade is your sister?"

"That's me." Jade raised her hand and moved beside Holly. "And yeah all that happened, but the truth is Holly used a corpse spell and we need to release the man's soul. You're the only person we know that can do that…" Nona dropped her shoulders and glanced at Gary, who David and Beck were both pointing at.

For what seemed the longest time, the woman was silent, leaving Jade with a fleeting sense of hope that she might help. "How long has it been?" Nona's response washed Jade with relief, nearly dropping her to the ground.

"A couple of weeks. His…soul wouldn't be too damaged would it?"

"No, but it's good that you found me as soon as you have." Nona walked around the desk and pointed a ladle at Holly. "I will lecture you on messing with the arcane after this, but first let us deal with your walking puppet now, girl."

After releasing Gary's spirit, everyone was relieved to have dealt with it. Holly mourned for him at first, but in the end she was glad to have it done. Nona did give the girl a huge lecture over proper use of certain spells and rituals, then proceeded to burn Holly's spell book.

On the plus side, Nona introduced Holly to the pure and holistic side of Wicca, and offered to teach her what she could of the religion if she felt it was something she was interested in. Jade didn't know what her sister's decision was, but she agreed to stand beside Holly on whatever she decided.

The tough part came with Erwin's party, where Holly had to make an appearance. The girl was nervous, understandably, but more than she needed to be.

"I thought you guys said you couldn't come," Erwin said loudly as he hugged his two friends. When they hugged him, it was with such a tight embrace that he grunted with pain and held onto his back. "Damn, you guys are rough when you hug."

"Sorry." Beck pat Erwin's shoulder and started to smile at his friend, now clutching his sides. "I just wanted you to know, you're our best friend and you always will be." Erwin stammered with confusion and surprise, and eventually smiled back at Beck.

"I'm glad to hear that. I hope everything's going well for you today."

"Better than you know."

Jade shook her head and walked past them as she looked around the party. There wasn't a great deal of people, just a few of Erwin's drinking buddies and coworkers. The man never liked to be alone on Christmas, so these parties were tradition for him.

At her feet, Trina walked beside her, grasping the stroller to keep stable. Tori lay in the stroller, looking around with wide eyes at the people laughing and talking with one another. Christmas music filled the air, and the lights of the Christmas tree bore enough light to cast an amber glow across the room.

"Oh Beck…" She caught a glimpse of an older dark skinned woman with frantic eyes. The woman had a stroller of her own that her thin hands were grasping the handles of for dear life. In the stroller was a tiny baby, no more than a few months Tori's senior.

She smirked as her husband turned his head. "What is it honey?" His eyes fell onto the woman and her grandchild, and horror flashed within them. "Is that-"

"Someone dear Erwin met at a bar, perhaps? Why yes, I'm almost certain of it." She pushed her stroller forward and made eye contact with the familiar elder woman, much to her husband's dismay and chagrin. "Oh ma'am, can we talk? How do you know Erwin?"

"Jade," Beck hissed, "Get away from them." Jade threw her head back, laughing whimsically as the woman approached her with a peculiar shyness. Beck hurried over, muttering in defeat.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, "I didn't come to socialize but Erwin insisted that I do." She extended her hand and Jade shook it. "My name's Beverly, and this is my grandson, Andre. My daughter's boy."

"Where's your daughter, if I can ask?"

The woman bowed her head and gazed down at the baby with a mournful look. Sensing she was approaching a tough topic, Jade started to apologize, but the woman cut her off. "My baby girl and her family were visiting New Orleans a few months ago. They were murdered…I haven't really gotten out of the house since."

Beck cupped his hand over his chin and peered at Andre. "That's terrible." Jade was shocked to silence. They never knew the kid suffered such a great loss, and she already knew from what they saw in the future that Beverly was paranoid and suspicious of everyone. This, mixed in with a lack of parents was a dangerous environment.

Jade reached out to the woman, being as careful as possible as she placed a reassuring hand over Beverly's. "I can't imagine what you're going through right now, but if you want to talk about it, I'm willing to listen." Beverly started to smile and shrugged in response.

"You're too kind, really."

"Come on." She waved her hand and walked towards an empty area. Jade looked back to ensure the woman was following her. "Let's chat for a bit." Beverly nodded and sat down with her.

Beck remained in place with his hands on his hips. He shook his head slowly and turned away. "My wife just befriended Andre Harris's grandmother. Great, just great." He rolled his eyes and made his way towards a group of men sipping on champagne.

Amid the men was a sharp dressed man with curly, jet black hair and thin wire framed glasses resting above a strong nose and heavy moustache. The man raised his glass at Beck and raised his thick lips into a smile. "Ah Mr. Oliver, you're the friend that Erwin's always talking about. Come, have a drink and share in the merriment."

He raised an eyebrow and shrugged, thinking little of the offer as the man poured him a glass. "Okay." There was something oddly familiar about this man, but he couldn't put his finger on what that was. "Have we met before, by any chance?"

"I don't believe so." The man handed him a glass. Beck took a sip and closed his eyes, delighting in the wondrous taste of a kind of drink that he felt he hadn't drank in ages. "My name is Thomas, I'm the family attorney for Erwin and his sister."

"Oh." He lowered the glass and smiled faintly. "Well it's nice to meet you, nonetheless." He'd heard very little of Erwin's family attorney, other than the man was busier than most. "It's good that you found time to come out."

"I felt obligated. I had to find a babysitter at the last minute for my son, since I didn't feel comfortable bringing him to a party like this."

"Why not? Some parents have brought their kids."

"Yes, there's nothing wrong with that, but children have their place I think." Beck sipped on his drink once more, shrugging in reply. He didn't agree with the lawyer's view, since it sounded like that of a busybody with little time for his kid, but it wasn't his place to judge.

Just then they heard a yell, followed by a crash in the kitchen. Beck looked up in time to see his oldest daughter watching with amusement a five year old boy performing a karate chop on a now broken plate.

"Oh no." Beck visibly paled and almost dropped his glass when Erwin ran to pick the boy up from the ground. "Oh no. No, no, no…" Trina started to mimic the boy, emitting a tiny yell her small palm landed flat on another plate.

Beck set his glass on the counter and ran for his daughter, sweeping her up into his arms and glaring at the young boy with short brown hair. Trina extended her arms, laughing jovially.

"That's my nephew," Erwin said with a nervous laugh. The boy was no more than five years old and had been entered into a children's karate course, Beck already knew this and had only met his friend's nephew a few times in the past. Erwin flashed a sheepish smile and pointed at Trina. "Hey your daughter seems to have picked up on the karate already, maybe you should enter her when she's old enough."

"I'll leave that up to my daughter…" He cleared his throat and continued to glare at the small boy. Jason looked up at him with high eyebrows and a friendly smile. Beck twisted away, moving his child protectively out of view. "I'll be watching you very closely for the next few years, Kid. Mark my words. Closely."

"Beck." Jade approached him from behind. Her eyes were closed and her gentle hand caressed his right shoulder. "Sweetie. What are you doing?"

"She's too young!"

"Dear. They're just children…" Trina poked her head around Beck's side, laughing as she looked at Jason. Jade took her from Beck and set her on the ground. "Look, she's already making a friend."

"Yes…" Beck watched as Erwin let his nephew on the ground. The boy proceeded to the back of the room where Trina followed. In the back was a small area with a tiny, standing bag used for karate exercises. Trina sat down and watched as Jason started to practice on the bag. "She's making a friend. Nothing wrong with that."

"Exactly. Just give it a few years, dear. No need to be protective daddy now."

* * *

Oh Beck, his daughter is almost three years old and already he's pushing the boys away. What are your thoughts on this chapter? Seeing Andre here is interesting, wouldn't you say? Then there's the attorney with a familiar face. Nona's dealt with Holly, and Trina's already taking an interest in Karate. Let's see what unfolds, shall we


	19. A Brighter Tomorrow

Voodoo Curse

Disclaimer: Don't own Victorious

A/N:

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Chapter 19 (A Brighter Tomorrow)

"I don't know how to even do this," Erwin said while eyeing the blueprints and pictures provided by Beck. Jade watched from afar, smiling as she listened to Beck discussing the blueprints and purpose of Hollywood Arts. This would be remarkable, to see the school of the future prepared.

The turn of events was thrilling to her, she had her sister and her children, as well as her life. Now, it was likely they could have the very school that they saw so many years in the future. "How on earth did you envision all of this again?" Erwin asked with a suspicious laugh. "I know what you said, but damn it's hard to believe."

"Yeah long story," Beck replied, "I wouldn't even worry about that right now." The man was exhausted even now, not wanting to think about the ordeal they'd gone through any longer. "Just know that this will be a success, I'm sure of it."

"It's worth the try." Jade turned to her sister, seated beside her and gave her a smile. Holly returned the smile and reached over, patting her gently on the wrist.

"I'm glad we're working through things, Jade. I'm sorry I was brash before."

"I'm sorry if I seemed like I didn't have your best interest at heart." Nearby, Katrina wrestling with Jason in the grass. Jade couldn't help but to wonder how long it was going to be before her husband took note of it. Holly followed her gaze and chuckled at the sight. "You know, those two were lovers in that future we saw…" She exhaled and let her shoulders fall. "It was heartbreaking to have to tear their world apart to make it back, but they were willing to take that sacrifice."

"I think I would have done the same thing." She pursed her lips and jerked her head back to her sister, raising her eyebrows. Holly watched the children with a sense of wisdom in her eyes. "The way you described that future, how Trina was and how close she was, I think it was the right choice. If I were in her shoes, saving my parents and not knowing what would be different about my life…I'd let go in a heartbeat."

In her heart, she had to agree; if the situation were reversed for her, she probably would have done the same. "I never want to go through that again. Ever." She gave Holly a stern look and the woman laughed.

"Don't worry Jade, I think I'll stay away from that mess for a while."

"Thank you." She flung back her hair and huffed. "I'd kind of like to know what I'd look like at that future age, you know. It'd be absolutely amazing to see if I'm stunning or have wrinkles all over my face."

Holly's face shifted and her nose wrinkled, then after a moment of silence the woman stuck out her tongue. "Given how thin you said I was, I think we'll find out where that leaves you." Jade nudged her sharply and grinned from ear to ear.

In time the dream of Hollywood Arts came to fruition, and it had been as much of a success as they imagined-if not more. Rather than move their girls into a larger home, the house they had seemed to suffice. Holly and David eventually settled down together, purchasing the same home as they had in the future which now seemed to Beck and Jade like a dream.

Much to her surprise, so many things from that timeline occurred as though fate were to intertwine. For there she stood, older and prouder, watching from the front porch as her youngest daughter walked home from school. With Victoria were two teenage boys for whom Beck became something of a mentor to over the years when their fathers were no longer a part of their lives.

"Mom!" Tori waved in the air, nearly dropping the textbook in her hand. "Is it okay if Andre and Robbie hang out here for a bit? We're going to play poker, and I was thinking of inviting Cat." Jade nodded, sliding a hand through her long dark hair.

"You may. Your father and sister are making dinner." Trina was at the point where she was learning to cook some bigger meals, and tonight she was prepping a small turkey so she could work her way up to the coming Thanksgiving dinner. Beck was the one that always prepared the holiday meal, so who else to show her the ropes.

Andre and Robbie thanked her for letting them stay and hurried inside while Tori stopped to hug her mother. Jade squeezed her and held her for a prolonged period, something she'd done for years. It was difficult to tear herself away from the child, even harder knowing that she was growing up and would one day leave the nest.

Granted, Tori was the spoiled one and the one that always said she wanted to stay home with mom and dad for as long as she could. Trina wanted to go out and see the world.

"I love you, momma."

"Love you too baby." Jade walked into the house behind her, taking a deep breath of air. She'd grown thinner over the years and had a few wrinkles here and there, but was still strong as ever. It was Beck she was more concerned about, his metabolism was still so strong that he looked like he never ate.

Cat arrived half an hour later and plopped down on the couch. She and her grandmother were friends of the family, so Tori had known her almost all her life, just like the two boys. All three had grown up to be good, respectable kids for their age-not quite the way they were in the nightmare so long ago.

Robbie did want to be a ventriloquist, and did have a single puppet that stayed at his house whenever he wasn't performing. Then there was Andre, who had grown up with Beck constantly reminding him to be respectful towards women and treat them right. He had a steady girlfriend now that he'd been with for about a year, and Jade couldn't be prouder. Those two boys looked up to Beck like a surrogate father, and as such, she looked at them like the sons she never had.

Beck walked out of the kitchen, his aged brown eyes meeting Jade's in a moment. His hair was short and combed to the right, he had a thick moustache and very light beard. "Food's almost done," he commented with a playful smirk of his thin lips. "Our daughter has succeeded in not starting a fire."

"Hah, hah, very funny." Trina walked out of the kitchen, placing her hands on her hips and playfully nudging her father with her shoulder. He leaned to the right, laughing out and rubbing his arm. "Geez you're almost as bad about cooking as you were teaching me how to drive."

"Yeah well…" He raised his hand towards his lips, coughing into it. "When you get your own car I'll _try_ to worry less." Trina's eyes lit up and Jade crossed her arms, giving Beck a knowing glance. Not only would he never stop his worrying, but she wasn't sure he wanted to buy the girl her own car just yet.

"Am I going to get a car?"

"Nope."

"Dang." She snapped her fingers and walked past Cat and the boys. "Hey guys." They looked up at her and waved, greeting her with friendly demeanors. Jade put her hand to her chest and closed her eyes as a vague recollection of the nearly forgotten twisted future came to mind. "I'd hang with you guys, but I've got something I want to talk to mom about." She opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow as Trina approached her.

"Is everything okay?" She asked, concerned. Trina stopped before her and her demeanor seemed to change. Trina had locked her index fingers before her waist and was biting down on her lip, her eyes averted from Jade's and her face started to turn a shade of pink. "Trina?"

"Um, let's talk outside?" Trina took Jade's hand and looked over her shoulder, letting her voice fall to a whisper. "Preferably outside of Dad's hearing range?" Shocked and worried, she nodded and hurried out to the front porch with the girl. They sat on the porch swing and Trina scooted closer to her.

"What's going on, Trina? Is everything okay? You can tell me anything." She cupped her hand over Trina's and looked into her eyes. "Your father too, dear."

"Yeah, it's just…" Trina swallowed hard and looked away. "You know those martial arts classes Jason and I are taking together at that one place?" Jade started to arch her eyebrows and started to sense where this may be heading.

"Yes?"

"They're really paying off, actually." Trina turned her head fully away from Jade and stared at a car moving down the street. "I enjoy them, and well it's great to have a sparring partner I know so well."

"I'm glad the lessons are paying off. Is this what you needed to talk to me about in private, or is there something else?"

"Um." Trina bit her lip and Jade could feel the nervous tremors moving down the girl's body. "I really enjoy sports, athletics, and I think I want to pursue a career there."

"That's great, honey."

She recognized deflection well, and when Trina looked at her, she gave her a gentle but knowing look. Trina sucked in a heavy breath of air and shut her eyes. "Um mom, I don't know how to say this but I need to tell you. Jason and I, well…" Trina bowed her head and Jade started to nod, saying nothing so as to allow her to finish. "We had sex."

"Oh?" She remained calm, not wanting to appear surprised. The two had grown much closer over the years, so much that Jade was sure something was going to blossom there. Trina studied her for a moment, leaning away.

"You're not mad?"

"Well I mean, was it what you wanted?" Trina nodded slowly and folded her hands into her lap.

"It just happened. We finished sparring and were sitting together, just talking." Trina curled a strand of hair over her ear and chuckled as her cheeks turned bright red. "I feel like I can talk to him about anything, you know? It's odd."

"I don't think it's so odd. Your father and I trust each other completely." She smiled gently and Trina's lips formed an oval for a second.

"I see." Trina blew out a sharp breath of air and slid her hand over her wrist. "Well, you see, I'd been having this thing lately-I just feel drawn to him in a way. Like I had some sort of crush on him, and I told him." She felt the urge to grin, to leap up and cheer, but withheld the urge as much as she could. "I told him I wanted to know what it would be like to be with him, he held my hand and said he was thinking the same thing."

"Okay."

"Well, we kissed." Trina nodded sharply and looked to the door, hesitating as though expecting Beck to pop out at any moment. "One thing led to another. I liked it. I-I've never experienced anything like that before…"

It was the moment Jade had been waiting for, and now the urge to scream for joy was almost too great. To think she'd cherish being able to be there for her daughter during such an important talk, something that she knew the feeling of having once been stolen from her.

Trina bowed her head and raised her eyes towards Jade, looking as though she were ready to be scolded. "What's wrong sweetie?"

"You're not mad that I-"

"That you what? Experienced something as natural as the wind?" Trina lifted head and gasped as Jade shrugged. "Honey, there's absolutely nothing wrong with making love-if it's with the right person, if it's with someone you feel you trust completely and wholly to respect you…Cherish it, don't be afraid of it."

"Well…" Trina cleared her throat and sniffed. "We talked afterwards and we're going to date. I'd like to date. I know how Dad's so afraid of me and Tori having a boyfriend and all, but-"

"Don't you worry." Jade winked and looked back at the door. "I will talk to your father." Trina started to pale and begged her not to tell him about what transpired between her and Jason. Jade gave her a hug and laughed. "Secret's safe with me, honey. Trust me, I don't want to lose your father to a heart attack."

"Thanks mom." Trina rose up and hurried inside. Jade remained on the swing, running her hands slowly over her knees. She looked down with a wistful sigh and closed her eyes. Eventually a force moved the swing and she looked over as her husband draped an arm around her shoulders.

"Our kids our growing up," he said calmly, "but every now and then I still have those nightmares. Watching Victoria play with her friends, being able to teach my daughter how to prepare a thanksgiving meal or drive a car…I never thought how much I would possibly cherish those moments."

"I know." She put her head on his shoulder and tangled her fingers with his. "It's going to be so hard to let them go. Soon they'll be going off to college, getting married, having families of their own." She leaned up a bit to kiss him on the lips. "Like us, they'll have someone to grow old with."

He smiled at her and gently squeezed her hand. "I couldn't have asked for a better partner to grow old with." Her heart swelled. "So, what did you and Trina talk about? Is everything okay?"

"Oh, everything is fine." She looked off into the distance, humming gently. Beck eyed her suspiciously and she looked back with a nervous chuckle. "You know that day we saw coming from a mile away, and were just waiting for?" He started to shake his head, uncertain. "Our little girl's growing into a woman, she's ready to start dating."

"What? She wants to start dating? What boy thinks-"

"Do you really have to ask?" She smirked and Beck turned a lighter shade of white than she thought was possible. "She wants to be with him, he wants to be with her; and we're going to let it happen."

"But-"

"But nothing." Jade kissed his cheek and sighed. It wasn't overprotectiveness so much anymore as it was just learning to let go, she understood that as she had the same trouble from time to time. "We can't shelter our girls. You know that as well as I do."

"We've given them a good life, haven't we?" He scratched behind his head and held his breath for the longest moment. "God." His voice trembled like a leaf in the wind and his eyes started to mist. "I can honestly say if Trina wants a boyfriend, I'm glad it's Jason. I have a lot of respect for that boy."

"So do I…Honestly, back then I was terrified we'd never even have this future." Beck frowned and Jade ran a finger over her eyes. "Now we have it, and I can't help but to want to cling to our daughters even tighter than most parents do just because of what we went through."

"We have our children, we have each other, and you're still close to your sister. I know how hard it is, believe me, you're often the one telling me I'm holding on too much." She chuckled softly and cuddled close to him.

"We're both guilty of that."

"I'm proud of you, proud of our children and I'm looking forward to seeing what _their_ future will be." Jade's lips spread across her face and her chest filled with hope and inspiration. "So let's do what we can to stop being afraid of a future that's nothing more than a nightmare some decade ago now, and focus on the present we have…and the future our girls will have and hopefully share with us."

"Yeah, I look forward to the grandchildren." She gave him a coy smirk and Beck started to sigh. "I wonder which of our babies will marry first and give us grandchildren first."

"Not too soon, hopefully. I'm barely ready to buy Trina that car I'm getting her for Christmas!" He brought his hand to his face and Jade belted out a laugh.

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So ends this tale, I'm sorry the final chapter took so long to get out, but thank you for your patience. I hope you've all enjoyed, and I know I enjoyed bringing the tale to you and hearing your thoughts as it went along.


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